literally rendered " rejoiced seeing," and " having seen." I cannot myself think tliat these words fulfilled our Lord's say- ing, " 1 will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice." (John xvi. 22.) That joy, I believe, is the joy of the whole Church at the Lord's second advent, and is yet to come. It is a joy of which our Lord said, " No man taketh it from you." I believe the phrase before us simply means that the disciples "were greatly delighted and rejoiced, when they saw before them their risen Master. It relieved their anxious minds, re- vived their hopes, and set at rest all their fears. " Our Master is actually alive again and has overcome death. Now all will be right."
We should not fail to observe how our Lord condescended to satisfy the senses of His disciples, — the sense of sight, and the sense of touch, — when He showed Himself to them after His resurrection. If their senses had contradicted the news that His body had risen again to life. He would not have required them to believe it. Things above reason and sense the Gos- pel calls on us to believe often, things contrary to reason and sense never. This is precisely what we should remember when a Romanist bids us believe that the consecrated wafer in the Lord's Supper is the real Body of Christ. Sense, sight, taste, and chemical analysis, combine to tell us that the wafer is still bread. The Romanist, therefore, has no right to de- mand our belief.
Rollock remarks, " When I mark this place, I see in it what then shall be the estate of the godly, when they shall meet with their Lord. The first sight shall so ravish them, that they shall wonder there ever could be such glory.'
21. — [Then said Jesus... again, etc.] In this verse our Lord pro- ceeds to tell the disciples the work which He now wished them to do, but in general terms. He meant to send them forth into the world to be His ministers, messengers, and witnesses, even as the Father had sent Him into the world to be His messenger and witness. (Heb. iii, 1 ; John xviii. 37.) As He had gone up and down preaching the Gospel, testifying against the evil of the world, and proclaiming rest and peace to the heavy laden, BO He intended them to go up and down, as soon as He had as- cended up into heaven. In short. He at once prepared their minds for the work which was before them. They were to dismiss from their minds the idea that the day of ease and re- ward had come, now that their Master had risen and was with them once more. So far from that being the case, their real work was now to begin. He Himself was about to leave the world; and He meant them to take His place. And one purpose for which lie appeared among them was to give them their commission.
The repetition of the salutation, " Peace be unto you," is very noteworthy. 1 cannot doubt that it was specially intended to cheer, and comfort, and animate the disciples. Glad as they