620 CHRIST disappears, and they return to Jerufalem. Sight. Sect, 197. that it was Jefus, their dear Master: And as they and he vanifhed out of their were preparing to acknowledge him as fuch, be fuddenly became invifible, and withdrew himself from before them in a Moment (i). Luk.XXIV. 31. 32 33 Luke xxiv. 13, 14. Ver. 15. And they faid one to another, How strange is it, that we should difcover him no fooner? Sure we might easily have known him, even by that inimitable Spirit and Energy in his Difcourfes, fo peculiar to himself; for did not our Hearts glow, and burn within us (k), while he was talking to us by the Way, and while he was opening the Scripturés to us? And they were not able to conceal fuch good News, or to defer the Publication of that which would give their Brethren fuch a holy Tranfport, as they felt in their own Breafts; and therefore, late as it was, they prefently rofe up from their unfinished Meal that very Hour, and with chearful Speed returned to Jerufalem, and told it to the reft of their Companions; (compare Mark xvi. 13. pag. 613.) among whom they had foon after the Pleasure of feeing their Lord again, in the Manner we shall prefently relate in the next Section. 32 And they said one to another, Did not our Heart burn within us, while he talked with us by the Way, and while he opened to us the Scriptures? 33 And they rofe up the fame Hour, and returned to Jerufalem.-— IMPROVEMENT. OW delightful a Clofe of fo melancholy a Day to these pious Travellers! A Day furely long to be remembered, by them, and by us! They were on a Journey; but they did not amuse themselves on it with any trifling Subject of Difcourfe. Their Hearts were fet upon Christ, and therefore their Tongues were employed in fpeaking of him. And behold, Chrift himself, the dear Theme of their Discourse, makes one among The Evangelift strongly intimates, that the miraculous Influence, which before prevented their knowing him, was removed, tho' the other Circumftances mentioned might awaken them to more attentive Obfervation. (i) Became invifible, and withdrew himself from before them.] Erafmus justly obferves, that the Word vanished leads the Mind to think of the Perfon vanishing as a mere Spectre; he would therefore render apaevelo, as we have done. Beza alfo obferves, that ' ala is more expreffive than aulas, and fignifies our Lord's being separated from them by a fwift and fudden Motion. (k) Did not our Hearts burn within us ?] This Reading is far more expreffive, as well as far more authentick, than that of fome Copies, which instead of atoμen here, have xtxanvμμern, Was not our Heart veiled &c.Compare Pfal. xxxix. 3. and Jer. xx. 9. Reflections on CHRIST's Interview with the Two Difciples. 621 among them; he enlightens their Eyes, and warms their Hearts, and at Sect. 197. length makes himself known to them in the breaking of Bread. So may we often be speaking of Chrift, from the Fulness of our Hearts, when we go out, and when we come in! So may be still, in fome Degree, join himself with us in Spirit, guiding our Souls into Divine Knowledge, and animating them with holy Love. Ver. 30, 31. They bear an honourable, and a juft Teftimony, to that great Prophet whom GOD had raifed up for them, as mighty before him both in Ver. 19. Word and in Deed. But they knew not how to fee thro' fo dark a Cloud: Their Hopes were almost extinguished, and they could only fay, We Ver. 21. trufted this had been he, that should have redeemed Ifrael. Pitiable Weaknefs! Yet too juft an Emblem of the Temper, which often prevails in the pious Mind; when the Christian is ready to give up all, if Deliverance does not proceed juft in the Method he expected. Yet was Chrift even then delivering Ifrael, in the moft glorious and effectual Manner, by thofe very Sufferings which gave them fuch Diftrefs. Verily thou art the GOD of Ifrael, and the Saviour, when thou art a GOD that hideft thyfelf from us. (Ifa. xlv. 15.) In faithful Friendship, and with a Plainness well becoming his Office, the compaffionate Redeemer upbraids them with their Slowness of Heart Ver. 25. to believe thefe Things, when they had received Line upon Line, Precept upon Precept concerning them. How justly do We fall under fuch a Rebuke in many Instances! Let us humbly fay, Lord, increase our Faith! (Luke xvii. 5.) We should reasonably have thought ourfelves happy, in an Opportu- Ver. 26, 27. nity of hearing, or reading this Difcourfe of Jefus, in which he threw fuch Luftre on the Prophecies of the Old Teftament, and proved, that, according to the Tenour of them, it was neceflary, that the Meffiah fhould thus fuffer, and Jo enter into his Glory. As Providence has denied us this Satisfaction, let us however improve this general, and very important Hint, that Mofes and all the Prophets Speak of thefe Things. Let us delight to trace the Heavenly Beam from its earliest Dawn, and to obferve how it grew brighter and brighter unto the perfect Day. May the bleffed Spirit, by whom those mysterious Predictions were infpired, fo direct our Enquiries, that every Veil may be taken off from our Eyes, that we may fee Jefus in the Old Testament as well as in the New; and fee him in both with that lively Fervour of holy Affection, which may cause our Hearts to burn within us! And oh, that we may efpecially find, that when we furround his Table, he makes himself known to us in the break- Ver. 30, 31. ing of Bread, in fuch a Manner, as to fill our Souls with all foy, as well as Peace in believing! (Rom. xv. 13.) SECT. 622 Sect. 198. Luk.XXIV. 33. The Two Difciples tell the Apostles what they had feen. SE C T. CXCVIII. The Two Difciples return to make their Report to the Apoftles; and while they are together, JESUS appears to them the Evening after his Refurrection. Mark XVI. 14. Luke XXIV. -33,-43. John XX. 19,----23. I LUKE XXIV.—33. LUKE XXIV.—33 AND [they] found the Eleven gathered together, and them that were with them, T was observed before, concerning Cleopas and the other Difciple, to whom Jefus difcovered himself at Emmaus, that they immediately arose, and returned to Jerufalem, to communicate the joyful News to their Brethren there. And now when they came thither, they found the Eleven Apoftles affembled (a), and others with them, who before thefe Two could begin their Story, were eager on their Part to inform the Travellers of the Satisfaction they had received, 34 fince they went out : So that as foon as they appeared, they heard several of the Company fay- rifen indeed, and hath aping, Oh Brethren, here are good Tidings, which will make your Hearts leap within you; for the Lord is rifen indeed, and has himself appeared to Simon Peter, who is here prefent to testify the Truth of it (b). 34 Saying, The Lord is peared to Simon. 35 And they told what Things were done in the Way, and how he was known of them in breaking of Bread. (a) They found the Eleven Apoftles affembled.] As Paul (1 Cor. xv. 5.) calls the Company of the Apoftles the Twelve, tho' Judas the Twelfth Perfon was dead; fo Luke here calls them the Eleven, tho' Thomas the Eleventh Perfon was abfent; as evidently appears from John xx. 24. (b) And has appeared to Simon Peter.] None of the Evangelifts mention any Thing of the Circumstances of this Appearance to Peter; but it has been obferved before, (Note (f), Sect. 196. pag. 612.) that the Apostle Paul exprefsly refers to it; 1 Cor. xv. 5.- The fame Apoftle likewife mentions an Appearance of Christ to James: (leid. ver. 7.) Yet as nothing is faid of his having feen him that Day, it much diminithes the Credit of the Story, which Jeram gives us from the Gospel of the Nazarenes, that James had vowed to eat nothing after the Pafchal Supper, till Jefus arofe; on which Account our Lord appeared first to JESUS appears to the Apostles, when the Doors were fout. MARK XVI. 14. [And] afterwards [as they thus fpake,] he appeared unto the Eleven as they fat at Meat. [LUKE XXIV. 36.-1. JOHN XX. 19. Then the fame Day at Evening, being the First Day of the Week, when the Doors were fhut, where the Difciples were affembled for Fear of the Jews, came Jefus [himself,] and stood in the Midft [of them,] and faith unto them, Peace be unto you. [LUKE XXIV.-36.] 623 Supper. But notwithstanding these repeated Tef- Sect. 198. pare of thefe Things among themselves, and the Com- 14. 19. which he rofe from the Dead, [which was] as unto to him. None of the Apostles feem to have had fuch a firm Expectation of Christ's Refurrection, as must have been the Foundation of fuch a Vow; and the Order in which Paul mentions his Appearance to fames, does very ill fuit with this Story.Probably Peter was the First Man, as Mary Magdalene was the First Woman, favoured with the View of our rifen Saviour. (c) Some did not believe &c.] Mark has expreffed it in a general Way, (chap: xvi. 13.) that they went and told it to the Refidue; neither believed they them: But we are undoubtedly to understand these Words with fuch a Limitation as in the Paraphrafe. See Note (g) on Mark xvi. 12. pag. 613. and Note (a) on Mat. xxviii. 17. Sect. 202. (d) Jefus himself came in, opening the Locks or Bolts by a miraculous Power.] Dr. Wallis (on the Sabbath, pag. 25.) thinks the Expreffion of the Doors being fhut intends no more, than that what follows happened in the Evening, when the Doors are used to be shut up. But as the Doors are faid to have been shut for Fear of the Jews, it ftrongly implies they were faftened within, and all that was herein miraculous was the caufing them, as of themselves, to fly open, and fhut again very fuddenly.. Elfner has fhewn, (Obferv, Vol. i. pag. 351.) that 624 They take him for a Spirit, but are bid to feel his Hands and Feet. Sect. 198. unto you: Thereby graciously intimating, that he 19. forgave their former Cowardice, and would ftill John XX. continue to treat them as his Friends, tho' they knew in their own Confciences they had of late behaved themselves in a Manner unworthy of that Character and Relation. Luk.XXIV. 37. 38 39 40 But they were greatly amazed and terrified at this fudden unexpected Appearance; and as they knew the Doors of the Room were fhut, and in the present Hurry of their Thoughts did not immediately reflect upon the Proofs he had fo often given of his Divine Power, or on the Evidences 'they had but just before received of his Refurrection, fome of them fufpected, that what they faw was only a Spirit, or a mere airy Phantome, and not a real Body. And he faid to them, Why are you thus perplexed and troubled, and why do thefe doubtful and unreasonable Sufpicions arife in your Hearts? Behold my Hands and my Feet, which for your Satisfaction ftill retain the Scars of thofe Wounds which I received on the Cross, to convince you that it is I myself, and no other: Handle me if you please, and fee, whether this be not really a folid and fubftantial Body; for you know, that a mere Spirit or Phantome hath not Flesh and Bones, as you fee me have, but is only an empty Form presenting itself to the Eye, yet eluding the Grafp of any Hand. And faying this, he fhewed them his Hands and bis Feet, and even the Mark which the Spear had left in his Side, which appeared like a large Wound, newly, tho' perfectly, healed (e): And feveral of them, and among the reft John the beloved LUKE XXIV. 37. But they were terrified and affrighted, and fuppofed that they had feen a Spirit. 38 And he said unto them, Why are ye troubled, and why do Thoughts arife in your Hearts? 39 Behold my Hands and my Feet, that it is I my felf: handle me, and fee, for a Spirit hath not Flesh and Bones, as ye fee me have. 40 And when he had thus fpoken, he fhewed them bis Hands and his Feet [and his Side.] [JOHN XX. 20.-] that this is fometimes fpoken of by fome of the Pagan Writers, especially thofe who may be fufpected of copying from the Evangelifts, as the Effect of a fupernatural Power attending the Appearance of their Deities, or other extraordinary Perfons among them.-The Argument which the Papists bring from hence, to prove that Two Bodies may be in the fame Place at the fame Time, and confequently One in different Places, is fo evidently built upon an abfurd Interpretation of the Claufe under Confideration, as not to deferve farther Notice. (e) He fhewed them his Hands and his Feet, &c.] Probably thefe Marks were retained in his Body, when raised from the Dead, on purpose to give the greater Satisfaction to the Difciples of the Truth of his Refurrection; tho' indeed without that additional Circumftance the Evidence might have been very fatisfactory. |