IJ. THE ESSENTIAL SERVICE WHICH THE FLESH RENDERS TO THE BPinIT. Chris• tianity is essentially spiritual. It makes its appeal to the spiritual nature•1 its aim is i;piritual ; and the weapons of its warfare are also spiritual-the efforts of the spirit of man and the energies of the Spirit of God. But it rests largely on a basis of facts attested by our senses-the fact of the Incarnation, "God manifested in the flesh 11 the " ,vord made flesh ; " the fact of the miracles of Christ, miracles wrought befo;e the eyes of men, and assured by their sensible observation of them; the fact of a blameless life lived in the bodily presence of eye-witnesses; the fact of the death at Calvary, borne witness to by those who actually beheld it; and the great crownin.,. fa.et of the Resurrection, the return of Jesus Christ in the flesh to his disciples. Th; entire fabric of our religion rests upon the history of the Me.n Christ Jesus· and tha acceptance of him as a Divine Teacher, whose word can be trusted and whose 'character ran be honoured, stands or falls with the truth of the Resurrection. For if be did not rise again, he certainly was not the One he claimed to be. Of what service to us then these physical facts here recorded-his ea.ting with the two at Emmaus; the sdund of the familiar voice in many words of intercourse; the sight of bis hands and feet with the imprint of the crnel nails; the sight and feeling of the "flesh and bones," which a spirit has not but which they found he had; and the a.et of sitting down at the table and eating of the fish and honeycomb before their eyes? The sight of his face, the sound of his voice, the style of his speech, the handling of his limbs (" handle me, and see," ver. 39), supplemented by his ea.ting and drinking before them,-all this at length con'l'inced their incredulity that it was indeed the risen Lord himself, returned accord- ing to his word. And all this accumulated evidence of all the senses is as good for us as it was for them. We are thankful for this multiplication of the material evidence, for, taken with other considerations, it substantiates the great fact of facts, and gives to us not only a marvellously original Thinker, but an unmistaken and faultless Exemplar, a Divine Lord and Master. The human senses never rendered to the human soul so great a service as when they attested the supreme fact of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. But they still do render very valuable service in every Christian life, 1. The control and regulation of our senses for Christ's sake and in obedience to his word is a continual tribute to the power of his truth. 2. Our feet can carry us forth on errands of Christian charity. 3. Our hands can be put daily to deeds of righteous- ness, of justice, of excellency. 4. Our lips can sing the praises of our Lord, and can speak words of kindness to the young, of sympathy to the suffering and sorrowing, of hope to the dying. 5. Our eye can read, our ears can hear, the truths which impart or which sustain the inner life of the spirit. Through our bodily senses God's own livincr truth, and with his truth himself also, comes continually into our soul; and thro~h these same senses there go forth from ll8 all healing, all helpful, all saving influences to the world; and thus we enrich and are enriched.-C.
Ver. 36.-The peaa of Christ. It is true that these words," Peace be unto you!" were the ordinary Jewish salutation. But remembering that our Lord used these words a second time in this interview (see John xx. 21), and having in mind the way in which he made these wor?-8 his own, and gave to them not ~erely a formal but a profound significance (John xiv. 27), we may find much meaning in them. We recoanize the fact that they were- 1 "SPECIALLY APPROPRIATE TO THE CIRCUMSTANCES. The minds of his apostles had passed through the deepest distress. They had lost their Lord and their Friend; and with him they had lost, as they thought, their cause and their hopes; they were, there- fore afflicted with an overwhelming grief. And now they were filled with the liveliest agitation. They were in a men~ state ~n which blighted hopes were struggling :With darkest fears; their soul was stirred to its very depths; and what, above all things, they needed was One that could come and say, "Peace be unto you I" It was tne very word that was wanted to be breathed into their ear, to be spoken to their heart. II. ADMillABLY DESCRIPTIVE OF BIB .ABIDING MISSION. It is true that Jesus once said "I came not to send peace, but a sword." But it will be found, on referring, that the~ be simply meant to say that division e.nd strife would be an inevitable incident of the course of his gospel; he did not mean that this was its deep purpose or its long and last result. It was the back-water, and not the main current, of the tt·uth he 011. xxrv. 1-53.) THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. LUKE.