expedient for you that I go away." (John 16: 7.) If he again went away, by ascending to heaven, this departure itself secured for them his presence even unto the end of the world. (Matt. 28: 20, 160, 1. OBS.) But when he addressed Mary, it was not the time to embrace his knees, and constrain him to remain with his people, for "he was not yet ascended to his Father."- (For the word arroμai, see Passow, I. 376, 5th ed.; "to fasten one's self to, tie, hang to, hold fast to; to occupy one's self with; to seize, hold, touch, handle.")

§ 158. The two Disciples of Emmaus, and the Twelve.

1. Mark 16: 12, 13; Luke 24: 13, &c. - On the afternoon of the same day, two disciples belonging to the larger division, one of whom was named Cleopas, went to Emmaus, eight miles distant from Jerusalem, and talked together on the road of all these things which had happened. Jesus drew near and went

with them, but their eyes were holden, that they should not know him. He referred to the subject of their previous conversation, and when they confessed that they could not understand these things, he said: "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. When they reached the village, they constrained him to tarry with them, but it was not till he sat at meat with them, and gave to them the bread which he had broken after the blessing, that their eyes were opened and they knew him: and he vanished out of their sight. But 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?" And they rose up the same hour, and returned to Jerusalem, and told the assembled disciples all that had happened to them.

2. Luke 24: 36, &c.; John 20: 19, &c.-As they thus spake, the doors being shut, Jesus himself stood in the midst of them, and said: "Peace be unto you." But they were terrified and affrighted, and supposed that they had seen a spirit. In order to convince them of their error, he showed them his hands and feet, remarking: "A spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me

Father

have," and he also ate a portion of a broiled fish and of a honeycomb. He said again: "Peace be unto you. As my hath sent me, even so send I you." When he had said this, he breathed on them, (giving them a pledge and earnest of the complete outpouring of the Holy Ghost on the day of Pentecost), and said: "Receive ye the Holy Ghost. Whosesoever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them; and whosesoever sins ye retain, they are retained."-Thomas was not present on this occasion; when the other disciples said to him: "We have seen the Lord," he replied: "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." Eight days afterwards, the disciples, including Thomas, were again assembled; then came Jesus, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, saying: "Peace be unto you." And, turning to Thomas, he said: "Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side, and be not faithless (unbelieving), but believing." Then all the doubts of that disciple vanished, and, adoring Christ, he exclaimed: "My Lord and my God!" Jesus said to him: "Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen me, and yet have believed.

OBS. Thomas is often unjustly condemned. His doubts are not those of the unbeliever, from whose heart these proceed, but they are those of the inquirer, whose understanding alone suggests them. The former does not believe even when the understanding is convinced, as the Pharisees did not believe, although they beheld the Saviour's signs and wonders. The latter investigates and scrutinizes honestly and candidly, not for the purpose of finding a support for unbelief, but for the purpose of discovering the truth, and, like Thomas, when he has found the truth, he submits to it absolutely and unconditionally. Thomas was a man in whom the power of the intellect predominated — he could not heartily believe, until he had investigated. An opposite tendency is seen in Peter and John; the direct impulse of the heart conducted them to the truth, and constrained the understanding to proceed in the same direction. The characteristic features of Thomas are perfectly compatible with Christian principles, and are entitled to regard-they are accordingly owned and admitted by Christ in his address to Thomas. Still, the

peculiar character of Peter and John is more blessed; in its efforts to enter the sanctuary of faith, it is not compelled to engage in a painful struggle with the outposts stationed at a distance by Criticism. In forming an estimate of the character of Thomas, the passage, John 11: 16, ought not to be overlooked.

§ 159. Peter's new Call.-The Institution of Baptism.

1. John 21: 1, &c. The festive week had now closed, and the disciples had returned to their home in Galilee, whither the Lord had repeatedly directed them to proceed.-Peter had fallen so deeply, that he needed a formal and solemn restoration to his apostolic office. The new call, like the first, which appointed him to be a fisher of men, was given at the sea of Tiberias, in the same place and in circumstances of a similarly significant character. He had been fishing all night, together with John, James, Thomas and Nathanael. In the morning Jesus appeared on the shore, but was not recognized by them. In obedience to his directions they cast the net on the right side of the ship, and now they were not able to draw it for the multitude of fishes. John exclaimed: "It is the Lord!" and Peter at once cast himself into the sea, in order to swim to the shore before the vessel arrived. The Lord invites them to partake of a meal which is symbolically significant, like the draught of the fishes-a celestial banquet following the conclusion of earthly toil. After the meal, the Lord asked Peter thrice, as the latter had been guilty of a denial thrice: "Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me?" The impetuous boldness of an earlier period is departed; conscious both of his weakness, and also of his love to his Master, he answers in humility: "Lord, thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I love thee." Each time the Lord subjoined: "Feed my sheep," and, referring to Peter's own death on the cross, announced that he was counted worthy (Acts 5: 41) not only to labor but also to suffer for his Master.

2. The Lord afterwards appeared to an assembly of his followers, above five hundred in number (1 Cor. 15: 6), on a mountain in Galilee, which he had appointed. Here he took leave of this larger circle of his disciples, declared himself to be the Lord of

heaven and earth, commissioned the apostles to preach the Gospel (Matt. 28: 16, &c.), to all the world, and instituted Baptism as the Sacrament of regencration for the kingdom of God. "All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore and make disciples (uantεvoare) of all nations by baptizing (BantiCortes) them in the name (sis to ovoua) of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, and by teaching (didaoxoves) them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you; .... he that believeth and is baptized, shall be saved; but he that believeth not, shall be damned." As the Lord parted from them, he gave the promise: "Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world."

OBS. The nature and the significance of Baptism are considered in & 189.

§ 160. The Ascension of Christ.

1. Mark 16: 19, &c.; Luke 24: 50, &c.; Acts 1: 4, &c. After Christ had repeatedly appeared to his disciples during the forty days which immediately followed his resurrection, and testified to them that he was risen, the time arrived in which he should be raised above all terrestrial restrictions, and return to the glory which he had with the Father before the world was (John 17:5). The eleven disciples had gone to Jerusalem a short time previous to the day of Pentecost, probably by the Lord's directions; it was needful that they should obtain a season for meditation, undisturbed by worldly business or labor, and prepare for the outpouring of the Holy Ghost. He assembled them for the last time on mount Olivet, in the neighborhood of Bethany, in order that they might see his glorification in the same place in which they had seen his lowliness and his exceeding sorrow and distress. They did not yet understand the laws of the development of the kingdom of God, and inquired: "Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel?" But he answered: "It is not for you to know the times or the seasons which the Father hath put in his own power. But ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me, both in Jerusalem, and

in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth." Then he lifted up his hands, and blessed them, and, while they beheld, he was taken up, and a cloud received him out of their sight, concealing from the feeble eyes of the disciples the incomprehensible and exalted mystery of this glorification. While they looked steadfastly toward heaven as he went up, two angels in white apparel stood by them, who said: "Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven." Then they returned to Jerusalem.

OBS. Christ's ascension to heaven is the necessary completion of his resurrection, the summit of his transfiguration and glorification; therein he resumed fully the divine majesty of which he had divested himself at his incarnation. It constituted his return to his eternal supermundane form of existence (Hoppy Sov, form of God, Phil. 26). But God is as well beyond us, exalted above, distinct from, and separate from, every creature (transcendence), as he is also here, omnipresent, filling, supporting and preserving every creature (immanence). Hence, the ascension is as much a going away, by which Christ was exalted above every creature, as a coming, that fills and penetrates all (Matt. 18: 20; 28: 20).

2. The state and the operations of Christ which succeeded his ascension as God-man, are designated in the Scriptures by the figurative expression: sitting on the right hand of God (Matt. 26: 64; Acts 7:55; Eph. 1:20, &c). It implies the heavenly and divinely-powerful continuance and completion of his work on earth. As a prophet, he calls, gathers and enlightens the Church by his Word and by his Spirit; as a king, he rules over all the world, and is the head over all things to the Church; as a highpriest, he communicates to us through the Sacraments the blessed powers which were won by his death and resurrection, and as our advocate evermore makes intercession for us in the presence of the Father (Heb. 9:24; Rom. 8:34; 1 John 2 : 1, 2).

OBS. Even as the divine nature of Christ during his abode on earth took part of the lowliness, of the form of a servant, and of all the sufferings of his human nature, so also his human nature is exalted and fully shares in all the glory of the divine nature. Since