where the Jews had lately sought to stone Him. S. Thomas said, "Let us also go that we may "die with Him." And although he, like the rest, afterwards forsook Him and fled in the hour of danger, yet his words shewed that the spirit was willing, although the flesh was weak. It would have been the greatest joy, then, to S. Thomas to be fully assured of the fact of the resurrection of Jesus; but he could not feel sure of it. It seemed to him too good news to be true. He heard S. Mary Magdalene's story of the appearance to her of the risen Jesus; He had heard the witness of the two disciples to whom the Lord shewed Himself at Emmaus; he had heard the other disciples tell how that Jesus had suddenly appeared in their midst when they were gathered together with closed doors for fear of the Jews. But all this testimony was not sufficient to convince his doubting mind. Nothing would do but the evidence of his own senses. Nay, he would not even trust the evidence of his eyes alone. He seems to have thought that the others might have been deceived as to the reality of the Lord's bodily appearance. It must have been a phantom, or a spirit of the Lord, he probably argued, that they had seen. To be

convinced that Jesus had really risen from the dead in the same body which had been crucified, he must not only himself see Him, but also touch Him: "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.” For a week Thomas remained in this anxious, doubting state. On the Sunday following the Lord's resurrection the disciples were again assembled and Thomas among them. Then Jesus came as before, passing miraculously through the closed doors, and stood in the midst, saluting them with the words, "Peace be unto you." "Then saith He to "Thomas, Reach hither thy finger, and behold 46 My hands; and reach hither thy hand and "thrust it into my side; and be not faithless, "but believing." So the Lord granted to Thomas the proof which he demanded, but at the same time rebuked his want of faith. For although Thomas was not guilty of that coldhearted wilful unbelief which is unwilling to · believe what the heart is unwilling to accept, yet he was deserving of blame because he had rejected the witness of the Church, and had refused to believe until unbelief had been made no longer

possible. Whether S. Thomas did now actually touch the marks of our Lord's wounds or not, we are not told. Most likely he did not, but was satisfied by the actual appearance of Jesus and by His invitation which shewed him that his very thoughts and words were known to his Lord. This seems clear from his immediate confession, "My Lord and my God." It is important to notice here what a striking proof this unrebuked speech of S. Thomas affords to the Godhead of Jesus. If Jesus Christ is not God, but only a very good and singularly gifted man, as some wickedly say, He would never have allowed Thomas to call Him God. He would have rebuked him at once. To have allowed Himself to be addressed as God, when He was not, would have been blasphemy. We know how terribly Herod was punished because he did not rebuke the people when they cried out, "It is the voice of a "god, and not of a man." "Immediately the angel of the Lord smote him, because he gave "not God the glory, and he was eaten of worms, "and gave up the ghost."

Well then, Jesus would not have suffered Thomas to call Him God unless he had really spoken the truth. But Jesus accepted Thomas'

confession, only assuring him that faith is more blessed than sight. "Jesus saith unto him, "Thomas, because thou hast seen Me, thou hast "believed: blessed are they that have not seen, "and yet have believed." Plainly, if men refused to believe anything which they could not see and touch, there would be no room for faith. So also if men refused to believe anything which they could not thoroughly understand, or, as we say, "see through," there would be no room for faith. For "faith is the substance of things hoped for, "the evidence of things not seen." We are here in a state of trial. We are to learn to walk not by sight, but by faith. God does not give to us a certain and infallible knowledge of Divine truths. If error were made impossible, we should be no longer in a state of trial. God has revealed to man certain truths, and He gives us sufficient evidence to convince reasonable minds that He has revealed them; but He does not explain to us all revealed truths so clearly that we could not make a mistake about them, or there would be no place for faith. When God made

man, He placed him in the

Garden of Eden,

giving him all things therein richly to enjoy. God only kept back from him the fruit of one

tree, the tree of knowledge of good and evil, of the fruit of which man might not eat. This was to be the test of man's faith. God told the man that an evil, to him then as yet unknown, called death, would happen to him if he ate of that tree. God did not explain to Adam and Eve what was meant by "the knowledge of good and evil," nor what death was. He required the man to have faith in Him, to trust Him not to with-hold from him what would really be good for him to have. It was not merely a test of man's obedience to God's command, it was a trial of man's faith in God's wisdom and goodness. Man failed under the trial; he chose to doubt God's wisdom and goodness, and to believe the Devil's lie. Adam and Eve had plenty of proof all around them every day of God's love and wisdom and kind care for their happiness, so that they were without excuse for their want of faith in Him. And what was their trial, has been the trial of every man ever since-a trial of faith, and obedience as a result of faith-"By faith Abel offered unto "God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain." "By faith Noah, being warned of God of things "not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an "ark to the saving of his house." "By faith

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