SERMON XVIII.

LOW SUNDAY.

ON PEACE OF MIND AND HEART.

GOSPEL. St. John, xx. v. 19-31. At that time, when it was late that same day, the first of the week, and the doors were shut, where the disciples were gathered together for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in the midst, and said to them, Peace be to you. And when he had said this, he shewed them his hands, and his side. The disciples therefore were glad when they saw the Lord. He said therefore to them again, Peace be to you; as the Father hath sent me, I also send you. When he had said this he breathed on them, and he said to them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost; whose sins you shall forgive, they are forgiven them, and whose sins you shall retain, they are retained. Now Thomas, one of the twelve, who is called Didymus, was not with them when Jesus came. The other disciples therefore said to him, We have seen the Lord. But he said to them, except I see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the place of the nails, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe. And after eight days, again his disciples were within, and Thomas with them. Jesus cometh, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, Peace be to you. Then he saith to Thomas, Put in thy finger hither, and see my hands, and bring hither thy hand, and put it into my side, and be not faithless, but believing. Thomas answered, and said to him, My Lord, and my God. Jesus saith to him, because thou hast seen me, Thomas, thou hast believed; blessed are they that have not seen, and have believed. Many other signs also did Jesus in the sight of his disciples, which are not written in this book. But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ the son of God, and that believing you may have life in his name.

THE Gospel of this Sunday presents us with an account of two distinct manifestations of himself, which our blessed Saviour made to his Apostles

after his resurrection from the dead. The first was in the evening of the very day on which that memorable event took place. The second was on the eighth day following it. On the former occasion, they are represented by the Evangelist, as assembled together in a room, with the doors closed, in order to preclude the intrusion of the Jews, by whom, very naturally, they were fearful of being disturbed, when Jesus is stated to have suddenly appeared amongst them, and to have greeted them in terms expressive of his benevolent disposition in their behalf. "Now when it was late the same day, being the first day of the week, and the doors were shut where the disciples were gathered together, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in the midst of them, and said to them, Peace be to you." In order to form a just notion of the impression which this extraordinary incident must have made upon their minds, it may be proper to consider the probable state of their feelings at this time, and the peculiar character of the situation in which they were placed. Of the state of their feelings at the present period, some conception may be formed, from the following circumstances recorded in holy writ. They had heard from the devout women who had visited the sepulchre, that the body of Jesus was no longer there; that a person in the form of a young man had declared him to be risen, adding that in Galilee they should themselves be witnesses of the truth of that declaration. They had been told by

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Mary Magdalene, that she had actually seen him. Mary Magdalene cometh, and telleth the disciples, I have seen the Lord." (John, c. xx. v. 18.) They had been informed by Peter, that to him also he had made his appearance : "The Lord is risen indeed, and hath appeared to Simon." (LUKE, c. xxiv. v. 34.) And finally, they had been just assured by two disciples on their return from Emmaus, that Jesus had joined them on their road to that city, and that he had made himself known to them in the breaking of bread. Such a variety of reports pouring in upon them from different quarters in rapid succession, all concurring to establish the same fact, must certainly be allowed to have been well calculated to induce them to believe it. That they did in reality entertain a strong disposition to give it credit, can hardly be doubted. But that their minds were completely satisfied upon the subject, we have the authority of Scripture itself for denying. For it is distinctly related by St. Mark, that when the very last account was delivered to them by the disciples from Emmaus, they still remained incredulous: "And they," says that Evangelist, "going, told it to the rest; neither did they believe them." (MARK, c. xvi. v. 13.) It is highly probable, indeed, that they may not have been without hopes of witnessing, with their own eyes, the reality of an event of which they had received such a diversity of reports. Those hopes, however, they certainly could never expect to be realized in the apartment in which they were then

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shut up. Thus, my friends, were the Apostles situated, and such was the state of their minds, when suddenly they beheld a human form standing in the midst of them, and addressing them in the words of the salutation mentioned in the Gospel, "Peace be with you." So unaccountable an appearance threw them into the utmost consternation. They could not conceive that what they beheld was a real body. For how was it possible that a real body could make its way through the walls and doors which opposed its entrance? They took it therefore for an apparition. "But they," says St. Luke, in a parallel passage, being troubled and affrighted, supposed that they saw a spirit." Their trouble, however, and alarm, were soon dispelled by the blessed Jesus, who, displaying to them the marks of the wounds which had been inflicted upon him, convinced them that the object which they saw in the midst of them, was truly their own Divine Master himself. "And when he had said this, he shewed them his hands and side." This conviction they manifested by the joy which it caused them to experience. "The disciples therefore were glad," says the sacred text, "when they saw the Lord." But as, in consequence of what had passed, they must still have been in considerable agitation of mind, Jesus, by an expression similar to that which he had used in stilling the storm at sea, restored peace to their troubled spirits: " and he said to them again, peace be to you." Nor was it to the Apostles alone that

he was desirous of imparting the invaluable blessing of peace, he also wished it to be communicated to his followers in general in that, as well as in every succeeding generation. And as he well

knew, that this could not be done whilst that turbulent principle of disorder, sin, was in possession of their souls, he commissioned his Apostles, and their successors in the ministry, in virtue of that authority which he had himself received from his heavenly father, to remove an obstacle so hostile to the accomplishment of his benevolent design. "As the Father," said he, "hath sent me, I also send you. When he had said this, he breathed on them, and he said to them; receive ye the Holy Ghost; whose sins you shall forgive, they are forgiven; and whose sins you shall retain, they are retained." Such, my friends, were the circumstances which accompanied the first of the two manifestations which Christ made of himself to his Apostles, as recorded in this day's Gospel. One, however, of their number, it is to be observed, was absent on this occasion. "Now Thomas, one of the twelve, who is called Didymus, was not with them when Jesus came." But arriving a short time afterwards, and being informed by his colleagues of the actual appearance of Jesus among them, which they themselves had witnessed, he peremptorily refused to believe it; and, like any modern infidel, he declared emphatically, that nothing short of the clearest evidence of his senses, should convince him of an event so extra

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