Sidor som bilder
PDF
ePub

with a thanksgiving to God, and appears to have been considered significant, as it is expressly stated by these two disciples, when they related to the Apostles at Jerusalem all that had happened to them at Emmaus'. The manner, undoubtedly, of our Lord's breaking bread, and probably the form of words in the thanksgiving, were peculiar to our Saviour; and these latter were probably the same, made use of by Him at the last supper: if so, how strongly were they called upon by this action to remember their Lord, who had instituted that very form in remembrance of His death?! SECT. CLXX.-Christ appeareth to Simon Peter.-Luke xxiv. 34; 1 Cor. xv. 5.

PETER, hearing from Joanna that she had seen a vision of Angels at the sepulchre, started up, and ran again thither, "and stooping down, he beheld the linen clothes laid by themselves, and departed, wondering in himself at that which was come to pass.

[ocr errors]

Upon these two disciples arriving at Jerusalem, and before they related how Jesus had joined Himself to their company on their road, the eleven Apostles, and they that were with them, accost them by the remark, "The Lord is risen indeed, and hath appeared unto Simon 3." Neither the time nor the particulars of that appearance are recorded by the Evangelists;

1 West.

2 Ibid.

3 Bishop Mann.

yet the Apostles seem to have laid a greater stress upon that alone, than upon all that had been related by the women *. It is related incidentally by St. Luke, but positively and in express terms by St. Paul. The kindness of our Lord in this condescension to Simon Peter is very remarkable. He did not show Himself apart after His resurrection to John His beloved disciple; but to him who had thrice denied Him, who had bitterly bewailed his crime, and whose mind required to be soothed and strengthened'.

SECT. CLXXI.-Christ appeareth to the Apostles.—Mark xvi. 14-18; Luke xxiv. 36-48; John xx. 19-23.

THE Apostles, by the several relations of the women, and from those of Peter, and the two disciples from Emmaus, were now ripe for conviction and Christ vouchsafed to give them that evidence, which they seemed so much to desire; and which, having been granted to others, they had some reason to hope for and expect ®. Accordingly, as the disciples from Emmaus had just finished their story, "when the doors were shut, where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews, came Jesus and stood in the midst, and said unto them, Peace be with you." "But they were terrified and affrighted, and supposed that they had seen a spirit:" and He, "upbraiding them with

4 West.

5

Archbishop Newcome.

⚫ West.

their unbelief, and hardness of heart, because they believed not them who had seen Him after He was risen," said unto them, "Why are you troubled? and why do thoughts arise in your hearts? Behold My hands and My feet, that it is I Myself: handle Me, and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see Me have. And when He had thus spoken, He showed them His hands and His feet. And while they believed not for joy, and wondered, He said to them, Have ye here any meat? And they gave Him a piece of a broiled fish, and of an honeycomb. And He took it, and did eat it before them." This act of eating was a further proof that He was a real living man'.

66

Then were the disciples glad when they saw the Lord." "And He said to them, These are the words which I spake to you while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the law of Moses, and in the Prophets, and in the Psalms, concerning Me." Then "breathing on them, and saying, Receive ye the Holy Ghost," "He opened their understandings, that they might understand the Scriptures. And said, Thus it is written, and thus it behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day. And ye are witnesses of these things.'

7 Bishop Mann.

[ocr errors]

8 West.

N n

SECT. CLXXII.-The Incredulity and Confession of Thomas. -John xx. 24-29.

BUT Thomas, one of the twelve, so called among the Hebrews, but called Didymus by the Greeks", "was not with them when Jesus came." What might have been the occasion of this Apostle's absence is variously conjectured. Whether in their scattering, after the scene in the garden, they did not all equally soon return together again; or whether, from the natural temper of this Apostle, scrupulous, and hard of belief, he had received all that had been reported by the women and the disciples from Emmaus as "idle tales," and in consequence had left their company, it is impossible to determine1. The disciples, when they again met him, "said to him, We have seen the Lord. But he said unto them, Except I shall see in His hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into His side, I will not believe." It is no wrong to the virtues of the Apostle St. Thomas, to say that his slowness to believe, in the instance before us, discovered weakness to a very high degree, and a hardness to be persuaded, which in an Apostle especially must deserve considerable blame. The backwardness of believing in this Apostle, and some of the disciples, did nevertheless serve to "Dr. Lightfoot. 'D'Oyly and Mant.

strengthen the evidences of our Lord's resurrection, and ministered occasion for several most undeniable proofs. They gave occasion for more convincing and sensible proofs of it to themselves; and they rendered them more competent and credible attestors of it to others 2. "And after eight days, again His disciples were within, and Thomas with them; then came Jesus, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, Peace be unto you. Then said He to Thomas, Reach hither thy finger, and behold My hands and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into My side; and be not faithless, but believing. And Thomas answered, and said unto Him, My Lord, and my God! Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because thou hast seen Me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed." It should be observed, that our Saviour does not censure St. Thomas when he, on being convinced of His resurrection, exclaims, "My Lord, and my God!" He allows Himself, therefore, to be called God, and admits that the name was justly applied to Him '. The original here is in terms so strict, and with such an addition of the Greek article, as when taken in the proper sense, can be intended of the true God only. The Divine wisdom saw it expedient to suffer an 4 3 Bishop Tomline.

3

2 Dean Stanhope.

Dean Stanhope.

« FöregåendeFortsätt »