ikewise!

And all this amazing graciousness is explained in our Lord's relation to
His Father. "_Father, into Thy hands I commend My spirit!_" Yes,
everything is there! When I and My Father are one, my spirit will remain
sweet as the violet and pure as the dew.

APRIL The Second

"_ON HIM!_"

"_The Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all._"
--ISAIAH liii.

Let me tell a dream which was given by night to one of my dearest friends.
He beheld a stupendous range of glorious sun-lit mountains, with their
lower slopes enfolded in white mist. "Lord," he cried, "I pray that I may
dwell upon those heights!" "Thou must first descend into the vale," a
voice replied.

Into the vale he went. And down there he found himself surrounded with all
manner of fierce, ugly, loathsome things. As he looked upon them he saw
that they were the incarnations of his own sins! There they were, sins
long ago committed, showing their threatening teeth before him!

Then he heard some One approaching, and instinctively he knew it was the
Lord! And he felt so ashamed that he drew a cloak over his face, and stood
in silence. And the Presence came nearer and nearer, until He, too, stood
silent. After a while my friend mastered sufficient courage to lift the
corner of his cloak and look out upon the Presence: and lo! all the
loathsome things were _on Him_!

"The Lord had laid on Him the iniquity of us all."

APRIL The Third

_THE STONE ROLLED AWAY_

MARK xvi. 1-8.

I am always wondering who will roll away the stone! There is a great
obstacle in the way, and my frailty is incompetent to its removal. And lo!
when I arrive at the place I find that the angel has been before me, and
the obstacle is gone! And I would that I might learn wisdom to-day from
the miracle of yesterday. Let me not be confounded about a new stone when
I know that my fears about the old one had no foundation.

And then the young man at the sepulchre! He is a type of eternal youth,
and he is sitting serenely in a routed grave. He represents the
unwithering in the very home of corruption. And this, too, is my hope! It
is mine in Christ to put on incorruption, and through a brief sleep to
become clothed with immortal youth. "There everlasting spring abides, and
never withering flowers!"

And I may have the assurance of the coming glory even now. Even now may I
taste the heavenly feast, and wear some of the unfading flowers of the
glorified. Yes, even