THE FIFTH SUNDAY AFTER EASTER 101

us to Thyself by the blood of Thy Son. Thou dost bring us up in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour; in Thy steadfast fear and love. Give us the grace of perseverance, that we turn not again to folly. Sanctify us wholly to Thy service. O Lord, we have presented ourselves body and soul unto Thee, every action, every member, every desire. We beseech Thee make them fit for Thy service.

Give unto us an understanding heart, as Thou didst to Thy servants of old. Open our eyes to see Thee, our ears to hear Thy Word, our mouth to confess Thee, and our hearts to entertain Thy presence. Grant us the daily renewal of Thy Holy Spirit, that His seal may be set on our time as belonging to those eternal years which are ever the same and fail not.

THE ASCENSION DAY

Collect. Grant, we beseech Thee, Almighty God, that like as we do believe Thy only begotten Son our

Lord Jesus Christ to have ascended into the heavens; so we may also in heart and mind thither ascend and with Him continually dwell, who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, one God, world without end. AMEN. Epistle. Acts i. 1.

Gospel. St. Mark xvi. 14.

A day of gladness and rejoicing! The disciples returned from the Mount with great joy. Jesus had bidden them wait for the promise of the Father, and the glad expectation of it filled their hearts with an ineffable peace and joy. The same Jesus whom they loved, who had risen from the dead, was exalted before them in the heavens. Now they know, now they can bear witness, now they believe the promise of the Father. This is heaven opened to them. Hereafter they can think of life here and life eternal as one; they can dwell on earth and yet be present in the heavenly places: "thither ascending in heart and mind."

So now, it all seems fitting that in the spring time, in the glory of fresh verdure and flowers, the happy May-time of the year, we should cele

THE ASCENSION DAY

103

brate this established intercourse with the unseen "With Thee is the foun

world of life and light.

tain of life, in Thy light may we see light," all nature seems to call aloud. If only our hearts would open to the correspondence!

"Like as we do believe 99 so we should ascend in mind and heart with Him, and there continually dwell. Truly, it is as the Psalmist says, "walking in a large place." There, in the presence of the King of Glory we may catch some of the royal feeling : the sense of a long ancestry, and of a sure future. What ease of spiritual movement it should give us, what grace and dignity of thought!

As we go on in life how high and holy it becomes! Truly the cloud of witnesses appears luminous in the face of the ascended Christ. The Fountain of Light and Life sheds the only light for so complicated, devious and difficult a journey as ours. But it is light ineffable! So the joy of anticipation comes to us to-day; felt most by those who have lost from earth their dearest. To-day we remember they are more present with the Lord of Life than we who are still tried with earthly infirmity. He came to He left us; but with them He is ever

us;

present.

The hour of calm which we reach with such extreme effort at detachment is, with them, the continual atmosphere. Here it is like the boy's school exercise, there it is the full-grown energy and freedom of a man in a man's work. So Ret

104

THE ASCENSION DAY

rospect and Hope gladden us as we stand on the Mount of the Ascension !

Thou, O Father, art calling us Home; to some of the many mansions Thou hast prepared for us. Thou dost bid us labour to enter into this our rest; to follow our great High Priest, who has passed before us.

Jesus, blessed Son of the Father, we would in Thy Name come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.

Along our pathway home lie so many dangers, temptations, snares. Wilt Thou be our very present help in time of trouble. Confirm in us every holy aspiration; fix in us every lofty desire; and as we go to our rest bless us and keep us, and give us refreshing sleep. To Thy ever watchful love we commit our dear ones from whom we are separated. May we all so live that we shall be received at last into Thine eternal kingdom.

す

THE SUNDAY AFTER ASCENSION DAY Collect. O God, the King of Glory, who hast exalted Thine only Son Jesus Christ with great triumph unto Thy kingdom in heaven; we beseech Thee, leave us not comfortless; but send to us Thine Holy Ghost to comfort us, and exalt us to the same place whither our Saviour Christ is gone before, who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, one God, world without end. AMEN.

Epistle. 1 St. Peter iv. 7.

Gospel. St. John xv. 26.

"The end is at hand." This is the emphasis of to-day. We are bidden to realize the shortness of this mortal life, set between two eternities, and its stupendous results. The life of the Present belongs to the Past and is part of the eternal Future. We look unto the Author and Finisher of our faith and see Him as the "Lamb slain from the foundation of the world," recognize Him in His present person as our Saviour, and believe that in the life to come we shall be like Him for we shall see Him as He is. The Eternal Now in which we stand. Now is the accepted time, now is the day of salvation. Turn ye unto the Lord now while He may be found.

Each life reproduces in miniature much of what the large cycle of history portrays.