seems nearer and more precious to him than ever before. In the seventh
verse he says: "Unto you therefore which believe he is precious." I
know he must be so, because he is so precious to me. I shamefully
denied him when he most needed my loving support, and swore that I did
not know him in the darkest hour of his temptation. Who can comprehend
his grace? The meekness, the gentleness, the calmness of his forgiving
heart under trials the deepest, under persecutions the greatest, even
unto death, are surely worthy of God incarnate.

"'_I know not the man_' were the very last words he heard me utter on
his way through tribulations to the cross; and I added oaths to the
declaration. I now fail to find words to express my surprise and joy
at the message he sent me on the morning of his resurrection. When he
was placed in the tomb I had no hope of his ever coming out thence.
But what surprised and overcame me more than the direct news of his
rising was the special message of love he sent me by the women who saw
him first. He said to them: 'Go and tell my disciples AND PETER, that
I go into Galilee, and there they shall see me.' His forgiving love
singled me out as one of its special objects, because I was such a
vile sinner, and had treated him so badly. Brother Paul calls _himself_
the 'chief of sinners,' because he persecuted the saints of God; but I
feel that _I_ must be, for I denied his Son. Truly did Paul say of all
such great sinners as we are: 'Where sin abounded, grace did also much
more abound.' Thanks to my risen Lord, I can now with heart and voice
join the chorus of those that sing:

"'O, the length and the breadth,
And the depth and the height
Of the love of Christ!
It passeth all understanding!"