l'' i,kn•c, -whlt'h wae f'sr more l'fllCRoioua It is not long bef'ol'e ft f1 notorlou& thl\t Bt 1hnn 1lint. whkh be in grr,~a and eenBUona PB11l spoke of him aa" God ble.ssed for ever,: 1 f:,,J,inn l11Ml t.hought indispensable for hia called him the" I1m1.ge of the invisible God " 0 p, c11i:·1rly comt.itutf'd mind. Defore doing as endowed with "the Nnme thnt fs nbo.:0 m,•r~ th:10 fill his hungry eyes with thcRe every no.me," as "set down on the right hand i,Ji,,,,;rying Pigns of ihe Lord's ae.tnal ob- of the majesty on high ; " that the author of je<'l' ,c prescnoe, be did in reality touch hia the Epistle to tho liebrewe onlled him tho Lnnl l•:· otl•or powors than fing<'r or l1and. "express lm1tgo of the F1tther's s11bst11noe," Ifr ho1:1,,lcd rr,1m thedeptl,s of despondency Bnd "tho Effulgence of the FBthor's glory," tn th,, Yer_,- top of fa.ith, a.nd l•e "answered" The earliest testimonies of heathendom con- -he responded to the proof he had already fess thBt Christin.ns sBng hymns to Christ r,•c,•iw<l of the Lord's triumph over death, as to God (Pliny, • Letter to Trajan ') I but 11n<l to !lie senl the.t bed now been set upon this was the hour of the great oonfession • the Lonl's own supreme and majesticolaime, th!s was the birth-cry of Christendom; by an adoring ory. Thomas" said to him." thl8 Wlll! the epoch-ma.king soene, which Ohs,T,-P it is not hinted that hE' ntt.ered a guided the pen of John from the prologue ,ngue nnd ejaculatory cry to the eternal to tbo close of the Gospel. Tilus Thomas Father (RS 'rheodore of Uopeuestia, modern doubted that the Church might believe, rationalists and Unitarians have repeatedly Thomas did indeed die with his llfaster, urge<l-a epeculo.tion which is wrecked on that he might lead I\ multitude of the deo.d the <7,,-,v cain-qi). Thomas said to him, lly fro1n their hopelessness and unrest to the Lord and my God. Thie is the first time resurrection-life. He received a full e.nd that any of the disciples had ever drawn all-sufficing evidence of the supern1ttural this loft, conclusion of love and reason. and Divine life, and eighteen hundred years They had ca.lled him "the Son of God," of faith have blessed God for the victory " t11e Lord," as a Being of q uit.e immeasur- which Thomas ge.ined over his despond~ able claims; and John, in the prologue, after ency, and for the climacteric force with yeani of meditation, tiecle.red that " the whioh St. John tells us of it. Logos which wos God" nnd " with God," Ver. 29.-Jesnsse.ith to him, Beoanse thou and the Creator of all things, and " the hast seen me thou hast believed.' Our Lord Li.,ht n.nd Life" hnd "become flesh " and does not bid him rise, nor BRY, as the angel 11.el'hed forth" the glory of the only begotten did to John in the Apocalypse, "Worship Son,'' even in his earthly life ; bnt it was re- God ; " nor did he reject the homage which served for the most <repressed and soeptie& is here so grandly paid ; but he describes mind of them all. the honest doubter, the this very state of mind which induced the man who needed immediRte and irresistible disciple to say," My Lord and my God I" as evidence, infe.llible proofs, trinmpho.nt, in- tbo.t high, holy acquisition which through- vincihle demonstrations-it was reeervcd for out hie ministry he ho.d tren.ted ns the me.in, Thomas to·eay TO Rilll, end to se.y unrebu.ked, prime condition of all spiritual blessings. uncondemned, by the risen Lord," MY LoRD "Thon liast believed," so.id he, "nnd be- .uro MY GoD ! " Herein is condensed into cause thou hast seen me; thou ha.st become one burning utterance from the worried a believer in all that I am, because thou heart of humanity the slowly gathering con- hast received this crowning proof of the clusion whiah had been steadily inwrought reality of my victory over death." There in the mind of his disciples by nil the a.re critics or scholttrs (LaohmBnn, Meyer, teachings of the Saviour. It was at lo.st Ewald, etc.), who treat the expression as an spontnneous and exultn.nt. These words interrogative: Beeaiue thou hast seen me, a.re the climax of the entire Gospel Every luut thoo beliered (art thou flOID a belie11ing nan-ative points on to this unchallenged man ?) ; and the Revisers have placed this uttero.nce. From the wedding at Co.na to punctuation in their margin. A few cur- the mi.sing of lAtmrus, from the testimony sives thus point the words, but it is impro- of tbf: Baptist t.o the awful tones of inter- bable, for it would seem, even still, to have cessory pro.yer,every discourse, everywimcle, suggested a doubt or question in the mind }'Dints on lo this superlative eonclw,ion, not of the Lord touching the reality of the breathed in loving accents by the enthusi- apostle's faith. Moreover, the obvious COD• astic Me.ry, not IIOUilded forLh by the rock- traet between those who have seen and those like apostle, not whispered in aweatruck who saw not would be obsoured by th9 a:ffection by the beloved disciple, but wrung punctuation. Observe that Christ did not from the broken heart of the man who had said, "Let ua go, that we m1i1 die with 1 All the nucials and a hundred and fifty
him:" of him who cried, "We know not cnmve manuscripts omit the tl"'µa of T.R. whither thou goellt: how ce.n we know the and numerous venions and quotntions. It wny?" of him who had ea.id, "Uule$! I see is rejected by most of the modem editora tL~ JJriut of the uaib, I will not believe." since Griesbach and Boholz. CIR. xx. 1-81.) THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. ,JOHN. ti')