view, expressly records that our Lord said, " 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." (Luke xxiv. 39.)
The mention of the " hands and side " points clearly to the wounda made by the nails on the one, and by the spear in the other. Those wounds appeared visibly and unmistakably in His risen body, and our blessed Master was not ashamed of them. Even in the glory of heaven, according to Revelation, John saw Him appear as a " Lamb that had been slain." (Rev. v. 6.) I think we need not doubt that when He ascended up into heaven, those wounds went with Him, and are a perpetual witness to angels that He has actually suffered for man's sins. When we see His real presence in the day of His appearing, we shall see "the man Christ Jesus," and see the marks of His crucifixion. I give this however as my private opinion, and I think it is fair to say that many divines think differently. For instance, Calvin strongly holds that our Lord's '* use of the wounds was only temporary, until the Apostles were fully con- vinced, and that His glorified body is without them." I cannot, however, agree with him. After a great victory, the scars of a conqueror are marks of honor.
Concerning the actual condition of our Lord's wounds it be- comes us to speak reverently. A very slight acquaintance with surgery will tell us, of course, that a lacerated wound in the hand or foot, or a deep wound in the side inflicted on Fri- day, would naturally, to say the least, be very painful and in flamed on Sunday night. But we must carefully remember that our Lord's risen body, though a real and material body, was evidently not subject to all the conditions of an ordinary human body, or of His own body before His death. It was in fact such a body, as we may hope to have when we rise again. We may, therefore, conclude that the wounds made by the nails and spear were not wounds that were sore and inflamed, though it is equally certain that they were not closed up, and only scars left behind.
How it was that the two disciples going to Emmaus did not recognize our Lord by the wounds in His hands and feet, is a question that admits of two answers. Either we must suppose that " their eyes were hoi den," and that they were miracu- lously unable to discern who it was that walked with them, and did not even know Him by His voice ; or else we must suppose that our Lord's hands and feet were covered during the walk, and that they only saw the wounds in His hands when He broke the bread. St. Mark's account would lead ua to believe that our Lord was pleased to assume another body on the way to Emmaus. He says, " He appeared in another form." (Mark xvi. 12.)
The expression " were glad when they saw/' would be more
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