them from its shame. He restored them there and then to some approximation of what the

real and final deliverance will accomplish.

Let us extract all the comfort that this precious passage has for ourselves. When we

are cast down by circumstances, or tripped up by ourselves, when we feel forsaken, or

when things appear black and antagonistic, let us just stop in the midst of it all and say,

"for this cause", because of all these and many other terrible reasons, "for this cause" did

the Lord of glory become the Son of man, become the Seeker and the Saviour and the

Restorer. If at any time we feel "lost", quite apart from the matter of eternal salvation

and security, depend upon it, there in that "lost" portion of our affairs or our estate, there

the Seeker is near, and there the lost may be saved.

While we must ever give pre-eminent place to the one great initial act of seeking and

saving that took place at the Cross, let us not miss the blessing that lies in the fact that the

Lord is still the great Seeker. He seeks us still; His attitude is that of an intercessor; He

Who died for us, still for us lives. When we remember how long and how untiringly He

has sought us, what an inducement for us to seek the Lord and His grace.

One of the consequences of being sought and found and saved is that the saved in their

turn begin themselves to seek the Lord. The words of the angels to the women at the

sepulchre are words that we do well to ponder, to pray over, and to preach to others:--

As we read the story of the crucifixion and burial of the Saviour, we are conscious of

much devotion and love, but it was love heavy with grief, and choked with despair.

Joseph of Arimathæa braves the judgment of his fellows, and begs the body of Jesus,

laying it in his own new tomb. The women also who came from Galilee, "beheld the

sepulchre and how His body was laid", and returned to prepare spices and ointments.

Nicodemus had stepped out into the open and brought an hundred pound weight of myrrh

and aloes. The two who walked and talked on the way to Emmaus were "sad"; they

even went so far as to mention "the third day" without believing the promise of

resurrection.  Even when the risen Saviour stood in their midst, the disciples were

"frightened", "troubled", and "believed not for joy".  And the testimony of Mary

Magdalene and the other women who were with her "seemed like idle tales" to the

apostles themselves.

These things should help us to perceive that naturally no man will believe the

resurrection of the Lord. There will always be a tendency to "seek the living among the