"Salvation is of the LORD." -Jonah 2:9

"Jesus Himself drew near, and went with them; but their eyes were holden, that they should not know Him." -Luke 24:15, 16 [KJV] My soul! here is a most interesting subject proposed to thine evening meditation, in this account of an interview between Jesus and two of His disciples, in the interval between His resurrection and ascension. Sit down, and under the divine teaching, ponder it well. Were the eyes of those disciples so holden, that they should not know Him, from some supernatural effect wrought on their powers of vision; or was it induced from any alteration wrought upon the person of their Lord? Probably there might be a concurrence of both these causes. The effect accomplished by this interview seems indeed to shew it; but it is profitable, highly profitable, to exercise our meditation upon it, though the point cannot be determined.   I think it more than probable, that death had given an aspect to Jesus, which in itself must have induced a change. That face which ...

"My soul followeth hard after Thee." - Psalm 63:8 [KJV] The Lord (we would speak with reverence) does not suffer Himself at first to be overtaken. The more the soul follows after Him, the more He seems to withdraw Himself, and thus He draws it more earnestly on the pursuit. He means to be overtaken in the end: it is His own blessed work in the conscience to kindle earnest desires and longings after Himself; and therefore He puts strength into the soul, and "makes the feet like hinds' feet" to run and continue the chase. But in order to whet the ardent desire, to kindle to greater intensity the rising eagerness, the Lord will not suffer Himself to be overtaken till after a long and arduous pursuit.   This is sweetly set forth in the Song of Solomon, 5:2-8 . We find there the Lord coming to His bride; but she is unwilling to open to Him till "He puts His hand in by the hole of the door." She would not rise at His first knocking, and therefore He is ob...