ourselves what return of love ought we to make to him who loved us before the foundation of the world; loved us even unto death, and now loves us with a love as large as his infinite heart, as boundless as his eternal being! 23* THE LORD Jesus Christ, who at thy first coming didst send thy messenger to prepare thy way before thee; grant that the Ministers and Stewards of thy mysteries may likewise so prepare and make ready thy way, by turning the hearts of the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, that, at thy second coming to judge the world, we may be found an acceptable people in thy sight, who livest and reignest with the Father and the Holy Spirit, ever one God, world without end. Amen. V. THE SOUL WAITING FOR JESUS. "And it came to pass that when Jesus was returned, the people gladly received him; for they were all waiting for him." LUKE viii. 40. HE life of our blessed Lord presents us with many THE striking vicissitudes. They began with his birth, they followed his infancy, they marked his boyhood, and they attended him in his public career, from his baptism in Jordan until his ascension into heaven. Now caressed, now cursed; now sought after, now fled from; now worshipped, now reviled; now feasting, now fasting; now with the great, learned, and noble, and now with publicans, harlots, and sinners; now well lodged at Bethany, and now not having where to lay |