32. 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.

40. And when he had thus spoken, he shewed them his hands and his feet.

"That

To this St. John alludes in his first epistle. which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the word of life."Edit.

41. And while they yet believed not for joy, and wondered, he said unto them, Have ye here any meat ?

42. And they gave him a piece of broiled fish, and of an honeycomb.

43. And he took it, and did eat before them.

rapture of it, Therefore to

Their joy was so great, that in the first they could hardly believe what they saw. convince them farther, that it was he himself, risen from the dead, with his own real body, he calls for meat to eat before them.

44. And said unto them, These are the words which I spake unto 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.

Here Christ gives his sanction to the whole, and every part of the Old Testament, under the threefold division of the Law, the Prophets, and the Psalms, which last stood at the head of the Hagiographa, or third division.

45. Then opened he their understanding, that they might understand the Scriptures.

They are never understood without Christ's opening; and his opening of them is to the heart. O let us pray for this! A little knowledge there will do great things.

SECTION LXXXV.

Chap. xxiv. ver. 45-53.

CHRIST'S CHARGE, PROMISE, AND ASCENSION.

46. And [he] said unto them, Thus it is written, and thus it behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day:

47. And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.

We may ask ourselves, did Christ know for what he came into the world? Let us think with deep concern of these two points, repentance, and remission of sins, and that one is in order to the other. Let us think how dearly the grace of remission was purchased for us; and what a desperate condition of wilful blindness, and contempt of Christ, those are in, who do not seek carefully after it. Let us observe, too, in whose name, and for whose sake, we have remission. We must ground ourselves wholly upon Christ for it, and the deepest repentance, if it does not bring us to him, is in vain.

66

Beginning at Jerusalem:" that wicked, devoted, wretched place, reeking with his blood. Begin there, says Christ; to teach us that the greatest sinuers, who at the call of God repent, and turn to him, need not despair of forgiveness.

48. And ye are witnesses of these things.

That is, of Christ, as the Saviour of the world, and the way to him, as here described.

49. And, behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you: but tarry you in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high.

They were to wait for the Holy Spirit, to enable them to bear their testimony. And till then they were not to enter upon their office. "God be merciful to me a sinner."*

* See the account of Mr. Adam's conversion in his Memoir.

50. And he led them out as far as to Bethany, and he lifted up his hands, and blessed them.

He blessed them, not for themselves only, but for the work's sake, that it might prosper in their hands. That blessing reaches to the end of the world, and it is now upon us, if we have put ourselves in the way of receiving it.

51. And it came to pass, while he blessed them, he was parted from them, and carried up into heaven.

There Jesus is now, and he is now looking down upon us, to see what we are doing in the world. He is also there carrying on the work of our salvation.

52. And they worshipped him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy:

This joy arose from what they had, and from what they expected; namely, Christ's blessing and presence in their souls, God's favour, the promise of the Holy Spirit, and the hope of eternal life. The joy of the Christian is real joy.

52. And were continually in the temple, praising and blessing God. Amen.

The Gospels contain the history of Christ's birth, miracles, preaching, death, and resurrection; to the end that we might believe in him, as the Son of God, and the Saviour of men. Some of the Evangelists are more full in certain of these particulars, and some in others; but all agree in giving a full relation of his death; and when they come to close their Gospels, join, as it were, in full concert, The death of Christ, as a full, perfect, and sufficient sacrifice, oblation, and satisfaction for the sins of the whole world, is the great article of our faith. But in order to establish it, it was necessary that he should rise from the dead. As he was delivered for our offences, so he must be raised again for our justification, to convince us that God accepted his atonement and sacrifice of himself

for us; and as the principal ground, or argument of that faith in him, by which we are justified. This therefore is confirmed to us beyond doubt. All the four Evangelists give in their testimony to it. The Apostles, at first slow of belief in this matter, but afterwards convinced by the evidence of their senses, made it the ground of their preaching and at the last sealed the truth of it with their blood. But what is this now to us, more than the history of any other person, without a believing application of what he did and suffered, to ourselves? To what purpose are we told of his coming into the world, his doctrine, miracles, death, resurrection, and ascension, if we are not persuaded by all this to come unto God by him, in the way he has marked out for us, namely, by repentance to faith, and by faith to newness of obedience? Therefore let us know the truth. The death and resurrection of Christ, yea, Christ himself is ours, when we come to him in faith, and longing for his benefits. But we can have no such desire, no faith in him, no benefit from him, till we know, every one of us, from our own miserable, helpless, undone state, how necessary a relief he is to us.

May the Lord grant that we may conclude our reading, as St. Luke does his Gospel, watching unto prayer, praising and blessing God for what we have heard, and for our conversion to the faith of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Note at the end of chap. xxi.

In this chapter Christ has foretold the destruction of Jerusalem, with such circumstances as must have operated strongly to the conversion of many, who lived to see them. exactly fulfilled. That destruction is a standing monument of God's hatred of sin, and will to punish it. This is a point in which mankind at all times are slow of belief. Though the scripture abounds with plain declarations, warnings, and examples, of God's punishment of sin and sinners, they will not believe in him, as he has revealed himself; but

walk on still in darkness, and fancy him to be all mercy, in opposition to his justice. But take heed, O Christian, lest he also spare not thee; lest a double portion of woe fall upon thee for the abuse of thy name and profession. For he changeth not; he is the same sin-hating God for ever and ever; and there is a day coming, which will be infinitely more dreadful to all the workers of iniquity than his wrath upon Jerusalem, great and terrible as it was. One is a type, forerunner, and pledge of the other; that we may know what God will do from what he has done,-be in pain for ourselves,-avoid the misery hanging over our heads, and be prepared by repentance and faith, to meet our Lord with joy, at his second coming.

Note on verse 19, chap. xxii.

"This is my body." They could not think that the bread which Christ held in his hand, and reached out to them, was that very body which they saw at the table with them, but the sign of it; just as the Paschal-lamb is called the Passover, that is, the memorial or token of it. But what then was signified by it? His body broken for us, and received into us. And when we have it in us, (namely, in our souls, -Edit.) by a true eating of the sacramental bread in faith, we are free from condemnation, and in the sight of God as Christ himself.