done unto thee.” As he had just before been blessed, so now he was reproved. “Jesus turned, and said unto Peter, Get thee behind me, Satan; thou art an offence unto me: for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men.”* The progress of light was gradual. The disciples saw much that was great and glorious in the miracles and discourses of their Lord; but they could not as yet receive the whole Truth into their minds. This is evident from our Lord's declaration: "I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now. Howbeit, when he, the Spirit of truth is come, he will guide you into all truth.”† When Jesus was asleep in the ship, during a great tempest, the disciples awoke him, saying, "Lord, save us: we perish. And he saith unto them, Why are ye fearful, O ye of little faith? Then he arose, and rebuked the winds and the sea; and there was a great calm. But the men marvelled, saying, What manner of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey him?" This astonishment proves that they did not fully enter into the glorious nature of Christ's person, as God manifest in the flesh. "While they abode in Galilee, Jesus said unto them, The Son of man shall be betrayed into the hands of men; and they shall kill him, and the third day he shall be raised again. And they were exceeding sorry." This sorrow was natural, if they believed that their Lord and Master should endure such sufferings; but it is evident that they did not then enter into the end and design of his death, as being a sacrifice for sin. With the Jews in common, their minds were filled with thoughts of the glories, but not of the humiliation of the Messiah, so feelingly foretold by Isaiah. After the transfiguration of Christ on the Mount, "he charged them that they should tell no man what things they had seen, till the Son of man were risen Matt. xvi. 16-23. + John xvi. 12, 13. from the dead. And they kept that saying with themselves, questioning one with another what the rising from the dead should mean."* At another time, when Jesus was explaining the nature of spiritual defilement, the disciples asked him concerning the parable, and he said unto them: "Are ye so without understanding also ?"+ In like manner, they could not explain the meaning of the words, "the leaven of the Pharisees," and "the leaven of Herod," supposing it to be said, because they had no bread; "and when Jesus knew it, he saith unto them, Why reason ye, because ye have no bread? perceive ye not yet, neither understand? have ye your heart yet hardened ?"‡ When the disciples could not cast out a dumb spirit, Jesus said, "O faithless generation! how long shall I be with you? how long shall I suffer you?" When they passed through Galilee, Jesus would not that any man should know this miracle which he had wrought, in casting out the dumb spirit; "for he taught his disciples, and said unto them, The Son of man is delivered into the hands of men, and they shall kill him; and after that he is killed, he shall rise the third day. But they understood not that saying, and were afraid to ask him.|| In St. Luke's gospel, it is added, "And they understood none of these things: and this saying was hid from them, neither knew they the things which were spoken."** All this evidences that remaining blindness which prevented the Apostles from beholding the glorious majesty of Christ, while veiled with humanity. The light was still feeble. When he was apprehended they all forsook him and fled; and though Peter followed him into the high priest's palace, yet there he denied him with oaths and curses. After the crucifixion of their beloved Master, the disciples were overwhelmed with sorrow. All their hopes seemed to be entombed with Jesus. Whilst the women, who were "last at the cross, and first at the grave," were weeping over their lost Lord, two angels said unto them: "Why seek ye the living among the dead? He is not here, but is risen....... They returned from the sepulchre, and told all these things unto the eleven, and to all the rest......And their words seemed to them as idle tales, and they believed them not.”* : As two of the disciples went that same day to a village called Emmaus, and were mournfully occupied in talking of their crucified Lord, Jesus joined them, in the character of a stranger, for "their eyes were holden, that they should not know him. He said unto them, What manner of communications are these that ye have one to another, as ye walk, and are sad?" They then disclosed the cause of their grief, and of their disappointed hope: "We trusted that it had been he which should have redeemed Israel and beside all this, to-day is the third day since these things were done." Jesus then reproved them for their unbelief, and ignorance of their own prophets: "O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into his glory? And beginning at Moses, and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself."§ The day being far spent, at their constraining request, Jesus tarried with them. "As he sat at meat with them, he took bread, and blessed it, and brake, and gave to them. And their eyes were opened, and they knew him; and he vanished out of their sight." Then "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." With hearts full of joy, "they rose up the same hour, and returned to Jerusalem, and found the eleven gathered together, and them that were with Ver. 21. Luke xxiv. 5-11. + Vers. 13-17. them, saying, The Lord is risen indeed, and hath appeared to Simon. And they told what things were done in the way, and how he was known of them in breaking of bread. And as they thus spake, Jesus himself stood in the midst of them, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you." So unexpected was this appearance, and their faith in the resurrection was yet so weak, that "they were terrified and affrighted."+ Then the risen Redeemer showed them his pierced hands and feet; and while they believed not for joy, and wondered, he took meat and did eat before them, 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. Then opened he their understanding, that they might understand the Scriptures, and said unto them, Thus it is written, and thus it behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem."+ St. John adds to this most precious interview: "Then said Jesus to them again, Peace be unto you: as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you. And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost."S : + The light was now rapidly progressing. The shadows were dispersing, and truth was rising fullorbed upon the souls of the Apostles. When first ordained, and sent to preach, their commission was restricted to the house of Israel, but now that the veil of the temple was rent in twain; now, that the partition wall was removed, the divine commission was as extensive as the globe on which they dwelt. Jesus "appeared unto the eleven as they sat at meat, and upbraided them with their unbelief and Vers. 40-47. • Vers. 33-36. + Ver. 37. hardness of heart, because they believed not them which had seen him after he was risen. And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the the gospel to every creature. He that believeth, and is baptised, shall be saved; but he that believeth not, shall be damned."* The time was near approaching, when Jesus, in his bodily presence, should be removed from them. "The eleven disciples went away into Galilee, into a mountain where Jesus had appointed them. And when they saw him, they worshipped him: but some doubted," (with such difficulty is unbelief rooted out of the heart.) "Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost; teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world."+ This gracious promise will never fail, so long as the ministers of Christ are faithful to their commission. But, like every other promise, it is inseparably united to the due performance of the precept. Unfaithful ministers forfeit the promised presence. It is a blessed truth, an all-supporting assurance, that Christ will ever be with the members of his true Church; and with all the ministers of his gospel in every age, who preach the truth in love, who are ensamples to the flock, and who are the genuine successors, in heart and spirit, of the holy Apostles. But if any part of the visible Church corrupt the word of God, persecute the sheep of Christ, and teach for doctrines the commandments of men, can we suppose that the Saviour will be with such an apostatised portion of it, in opposition to his own revelation vouchsafed to St. John? "After the Lord had spoken unto them, he was received up into heaven, and sat on the right hand of * Mark xvi. 14-16. + Matt. xxviii. 16—20. |