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SERMON VI.

THE CONFESSION OF THOMAS.

"My Lord, and my God."-JOHN, xx. 28.

THE Sun of Righteousness rose, like the natural sun, early but slowly, gradually scattering the darkness and the clouds. First the grave of Christ was seen to be open; then it was seen to be empty; and then the grave-clothes were found lying, carefully wrapt up, denoting that the illustrious prisoner had neither been taken away by violence, nor gone out hastily or by flight. First, an angel announced his resurrection, and then he showed himself alive. First he appeared to one of his disciples, next to two of them, and lastly to them all. In this chapter we have an account of the first appearance which he made to his disciples collectively. They had already received a message from him by Mary Magdalene; one of their number had also seen him ; but still they doubted. Now, he not only appeared in the midst of them, and spoke to them, but he showed them his hands and his side, the former bearing the mark of the nails by which he had been fixed to the cross, and the latter the scar of the spear by which he was pierced. And now all the doubts of those present were dissipated. "Then were the disciples glad when they saw the Lord."

But one of their number, Thomas, called in the Greek Didymus, was absent during this interview. On his arrival, his brethren informed him that they had seen the Lord. One would have thought that the concurring testimony of so many would have commanded his belief. But he remained incredulous; and expressed his unbelief in very strong terms: "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.' Next Lord's day, the disciples being assembled, and Thomas with them, Jesus appeared in the midst of them, and having saluted them, desired the faithless apostle to take the satisfaction which he had required. "Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side and be not faithless, but believing." This was irresistible; and Thomas cried out in a transport, "My Lord, and my God !"

The great secret, my brethren, of profiting by ordinances, is to wait on them in the faith of Christ's spiritual presence in them, according to

his promise, "Lo, I am with you alway!" And our assembling together at this time will be for the better and not for the worse, if the words read shall be blessed for correcting our unbelief and strengthening our faith. Let us then, in dependence on the Spirit who testifies of Christ,

I. Make a few observations from the text in its connection.
II. Open up the import of the exclamation.

I.-1. The text in its connection leads me to observe, that our Lord Jesus put peculiar honour on the first day of the week. On that day he rose from the dead; and by that very act it was distinguished from all the other days. As God rested from all his works in creation on the seventh, so did Christ rest from his works in redemption, and declare them complete, by rising from the grave on the first day. On this day he appeared to the women, to Peter, to the two disciples travelling to Emmaus, and to the ten apostles. The evangelist is very particular in naming the day; for though it had been mentioned before, he does not satisfy himself with saying, "Now the same day in the evening," but adds, "being the first day of the week." On the ensuing first day he renewed his visit. And it was on the same day of the week that the Spirit descended on the apostles. These acts were sufficient to dedicate that portion of time to a sacred use; for divine authority having already set apart one day in seven, there was no necessity for such an express appointment in transferring the Sabbath from one day of the week to another. The analogy between the works of creation and redemption, as recognised in Scripture-the reason of the thing, the example of Christ and his apostles, and the name given to that day by the Spirit of God-constitute an ample warrant for our faith in keeping it holy to the Lord, as the Christian Sabbath, and for our expecting his spiritual presence on it. There is no superstition in looking for a special blessing on the first day of the week. There is a hallowing influence in the thought, "This is the LORD'S DAY ;"-"This is the day which the Lord hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it. Save now, I beseech thee, O Lord! I beseech thee, send now prosperity." The highest attainment on this side heaven is to be "in the spirit on the Lord's day."

2. It is good to be found in the meetings of the disciples of Christ, especially on his own day. It was when the disciples were assembled that Jesus came and stood in the midst of them, and said, "Peace be unto you," and, breathing on them, said, "Receive ye the Holy Ghost." In like manner, on the day of Pentecost, "they were all with one accord in one place," and were all filled with the Holy Spirit. In consequence of Thomas being absent when his brethren convened on the first Lord's day, he missed a meeting with Christ, and remained in a state of painful suspense, or rather positive unbelief, so far as the great fact of the resurrection was concerned. And it was not until he was found with

his brethren on the following Sabbath that he obtained relief and a cure. The fearers of the Lord have always felt a desire after, and a delight in, public ordinances. The Lord loved the gates of Zion more than all the dwellings of Jacob; and accordingly "thither the tribes went up to Israel's testimony, to give thanks to the name of the Lord." And a special promise is attached to Christian assemblies, however small : “Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them." Every true worshipper has the promise of Christ's presence; but "two are better than one, and a threefold cord is not easily broken." If a number of persons should be invited to an entertainment by a great man, though he should not make his appearance at the time of their assembling, yet, on comparing their cards of invitation, they would be confirmed in their expectation of seeing him. We do not know what a loss we sustain by carelessly or unnecessarily absenting ourselves from public ordinances, even for a single diet. Perhaps Thomas was with his brethren in the forenoon, but he was absent in the afternoon of the day when the Lord came among them.

3. Remark, again, that however genuine the experience of others may be, and whatever advantages may be derived from their report of what they have seen and felt, yet these will not supply the room of personal observation and experience. The disciples no doubt acquainted their absent brother with all that they had seen and heard-what Jesus said to them, and what he showed them-but it produced no effect. One glance of an object, or a slight tasting of it, will give us more satisfactory acquaintance with it than the most minute and lengthened description. "O taste and see that God is good." The greatest prejudices have sometimes fled at the hearing of a single sermon-a single sentence. "Can there any good thing come out of Nazareth?" said Nathanael. "Philip saith unto him, Come and see. Jesus had only to say, "When thou wast under the fig-tree, I saw thee. "Rabbi! thou art the Son of God; thou art the King of Israel!" "Come," said the woman of Samaria, see a man which told me all things that ever I did: is not this the Christ?"-"Now," said her countrymen, "we believe, not because of thy saying; for we have heard him ourselves, and know that this is indeed the Christ, the Saviour of the world." Reported sermons, and notes of sermons, are generally insipid; like dry crusts, they would require a keen appetite. We may recollect the words, but perhaps the feeling with which we heard them is gone, or greatly abated. "DID not our heart burn within us while he talked with us by the way, and while he opened to us the Scriptures?" It is easy to repeat words; not so easy to impart feelings.

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4. Let us observe that unbelief is very unreasonable and extravagant in its demands. How strikingly do we see this exemplified in the conduct of this disciple! He had a sufficiency of evidence already in the testimony of his brethren, whom he knew to be honest men, well acquainted with their Master, and not more prepossessed with the

hope of seeing him alive again than he himself was. And then he was not called to rest his faith on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God; for the resurrection of Christ on the third day had been testified beforehand by the prophets and by Jesus himself. If not contented with this testimony, one would have thought that all he required would have been to see his Master with his own eyes, and talk with him. But no, this would not satisfy him. Well, suppose thou shouldst see the print of the nails on his hands, will that do? No; "I must put my finger into them." Is that all? No; "I must thrust my hand into his side, else I will not believe." Never, sure, was there anything so near to total and wilful unbelief as this! And had it pleased Infinite Wisdom that these memorials of humiliation should have been laid aside-had the Saviour not chosen to bear the marks of the nails and the spear on his resurrection body, where, Thomas, would have been thy faith, and where thy salvation? Here, as in a mirror, you may see the unreasonableness of infidelity in every age. Its demands increase as they are answered; its objections resemble the heads of the fabled monster, which were no sooner cut off than others, as hideous as the former, rose in their place. What a salvation did God work at the Red Sea! But they no sooner wanted water, than they murmured. Behold, he clave the rock, and the waters gushed out; "but can he give bread also ? can he provide flesh for his people?"- "If the Lord would make windows in heaven, might this thing be?"- "What sign showest thou, that we may see and believe thee?"—" If he be the King of Israel, let him come down from the cross, and we will believe him. O! how like is the language of the friends of Christ sometimes to that of his enemies! How stumbling to weak disciples! how hardening to the ungodly!

5. Observe that the Saviour is very condescending, as well as forgiving, in curing unbelief. It was prophesied of him, "The bruised reed he will not break, and the smoking flax he will not quench;" and often did he verify this part of his character in his treatment of the weak and dejected. But here is a case which does not seem to come under that rule. Here is a proud, conceited, obstinate disciple, who thinks himself strong, and despises his brethren as silly and credulous men. But the strength of men is weakness in the sight of God, and our Lord pitied him in his fancied elevation. He knew how to mortify his pride by curing his unbelief. He had much to forgive all his disciples. They had forsaken him in the hour of his trial; they had forgotten the words that he had spoken unto them while he was yet with them. And how does he resent this? He puts them to shame by kindness and condescension by doubling his favours to them. While they continued with him in his temptations, he only called them "friends;" but now "he is not ashamed to call them brethren. "Go to my brethren, and say, ascend unto my Father and your Father. But the grace of our Lord was conspicuous in the case of Thomas. Great spirits will not be dictated to by their inferiors; but Christ accommodates himself to the

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foolish fancy and wayward humour of this disciple; suffers himself to be prescribed to; grants the demand made on him in all its extent; bares his wounds, and exposes them to be raked and roughly handled, to heal an inveterate and morbid incredulity. "This is not the manner of man, O Lord!" And so it was felt by the humbled and convicted disciple, when he exclaimed, "My Lord, and my God!"

6. Observe finally, that there is sometimes a very sudden change effected in the minds and exercise of erring and undutiful Christians. Sometimes it is gradual. While they are musing or listening to the word of God, the fire begins to burn, and gradually increases until it bursts into a flame which cannot be contained, as in the case of the disciples on the road to Emmaus. At other times it breaks forth all at once, as in the case of Thomas. In a moment all his doubts had fled, and the triumph of faith was proclaimed in the exclamation which he uttered, "My Lord, and my God!"

II. Let us open up the import of the exclamation. And in doing so, it is not enough to consider the import of the words; we ought to enter into the feelings of the speaker, and thus to make them our own, and, as it were, light our torch at his flame. It was not any single sentiment or feeling, such as faith, or love, or joy, which actuated the apostle at this moment; but a mixed emotion, in which various feelings were blended together, and heightened each other. Let us analyse the complex emotion.

1. The exclamation is expressive of the fullest and most satisfying persuasion. Thomas is no longer faithless, but believing. He is now fully persuaded of what he formerly doubted and disbelieved. Conviction has flashed on his mind. The evidence is irresistible and overwhelming. Not the shadow of a doubt remains. "It is the Lord himself, and not another. This is no spectre or phantom-there is no imposition or illusion here." All his brethren could not formerly persuade Thomas that his Master was risen; but the whole world could not now have persuaded him that he was in his grave.

And thus it is when the Spirit of Christ opens the understandings of men to understand the Scriptures, which then bring their own evidence along with them, and produce a clear, lively, and unhesitating conviction of their truth, and of the certainty of the things contained in them. Those who formerly disbelieved or stood in doubt, cry out, "Now we believe we believe and are sure." They cavil no more, they contradict no more, they inquire no more. They acquiesce in and set their seal to what God reveals, are so satisfied of its truth that they can venture their all, for time and eternity, upon it; and although their knowledge may be but slender and imperfect compared with that of others, yet their faith is strong and adhesive, like that of the female martyr, who said, "I cannot dispute for Christ, but I can die for him." And this persuasion is most satisfying to the soul. A state of unbelief