truth of what I had more than once told thee and them, that they should destroy this body, and after three days I would raise it up again? Or didst thou question my power to make it good? Were not the resurrection of Lazarus after he had been four days buried, and all the other miracles I wrought, sufficient to convince you, that all power was committed to me? Surely thou must acknowledge thy scruples had no real foundation. Perhaps they sprung from envy. Thou wouldst not believe I was risen, because I did not appear to thee when I appeared to them; but was it not thy own fault, and didst thou expect that I should follow thee in thy wanderings? If thou hadst not left my service, thou hadst not lost my presence. When the disciples were assembled together, thy place only was empty. I love them that love me; and those that seek me early shall find me. But, however, I perceive the integrity of thy heart through this accidental cloud, and I will indulge thee in the satisfaction thou requirest; thou shalt want no evidence that I died for thy sins, and that I am risen again for thy justification. Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side; and let no temptation ever more prevail with thee, to question the reality of my resurrection, or the continuance of my love."

It is not said that Thomas kept his resolution,

and actually made the trial; it is more probable that the words and look of his Divine Master carried conviction with them; and that his bursting heart could only find vent for that rapturous exclamation, "6 My Lord and my God! It is he indeed, it can be no other; none but my God could know, none but my Saviour Jesus could forgive my obstinate unbelief. How am I astonished at myself and thee! I scarcely know which to admire most, the weakness of my faith, or the strength of thy love. How wonderful that thou shouldst stoop so low, to satisfy the overbold request of the most unworthy of thy disciples! I will have no other God beside thee. No other Lord shall have dominion over me; and I humbly hope that no circumstance, however dark and discouraging, will ever more tempt me to question the power, grace, or faithfulness of my Lord and my God."

And now, my fellow-christians, we are assembled together like the disciples, to commemorate the resurrection of the Redeemer, and Consolation of Israel. Blessed be God, that we are not yet drawn to the necessity of holding our assemblies in the night for fear of any one, though we know not how soon we may be so; and, if we should, we see it is no new thing. Enemies, indeed, we have enough; but they are such as the doors of our house are no manner of security against, unless we can shut the door of our hearts. The enemy that

delights to sow tares; that wicked one who comes and takes away any good seed that may be sown; that implacable adversary of our souls, who, like a roaring lion, goeth about seeking to devour, will find means to disturb and terrify us. And even if we could be so happy as effectually to shut the door against him, yet have we such a crowd of sinful thoughts and vain imaginations within, as, if Jesus do not appear and speak them into peace, we should be utterly indisposed either to serve him or enjoy him. If the Lord should now vouchsafe to honour us with his presence, what would he find here but a congregation of unbelieving Thomases?

Perhaps we can recollect the time, when, as we were sitting in the ship mending our nets, or sitting at the receipt of custom, or following our several callings, Jesus passed by and said to us, "Follow me." We immediately left all and followed him. We forsook father and mother, houses and land, and denied ourselves; and took up our cross, and professed ourselves his disciples. We can recollect, perhaps, a thousand times, when the multitude being dismissed, and none present but the Saviour and ourselves, he has manifested himself to us in a manner he does not unto the world; and we thought it good to be there, and were for pitching tabernacles there, and never, never going down from that happy mount. We may very possibly, also, have known the time when our love

was so great, and our zeal so fervent, that we wished to go and die with him; and resolved, that though all men should forsake him, yet would not we. But, alas! the trial declared our cowardice. When he was taken, and by wicked hands crucified and slain, we hid, as it were, our faces from him, and actually forsook him, and fled, and left him in the judgment-hall, to the mercy of his enemies, undefended and alone. Perhaps, a fear of suffering, or a fear of ridicule, has made us, if not with Peter to curse and to swear that we know not the man, yet with Thomas to forsake the assembling of ourselves together, and so to lose his company and blessing. Whatever be the unhappy cause, it is long since we enjoyed the presence and smiles of him whom our souls love. Thou hast appeared, time after time, to one and another, and to all of our fellow-disciples, and we rejoice in their privilege; but we must have a God and Saviour of our own. The hart does not more eagerly pant after the water-brooks, than our souls pant, and breathe, and long for thee. We can charge our darkness and distress on no one but ourselves: but it is from thee only, O thou Sun of righteousness, who art the light and the life of men, that we expect relief. If thou art not there, the best ordinances are wells without water; and the kindest endeavours of our fellow-christians to cheer us, are vain and ineffectual; and nothing but the

immediate presence and fresh endearments of our much injured but best loved Friend and Saviour, can dispel our guilty, gloomy fears, and revive our longlost hope, confidence, and joy. From wandering in the highways and hedges, almost as poor, and as blind, and as halt and maimed as when we first received thy kind invitation, we now again present ourselves at thy table. It is here thou art often seen like a king in his beauty. It is here thou openest the treasures of thy grace; and, with rich variety, satisfiest the poor with good things. It is here that thou hast often, with no more apparent provision than a few loaves, fed many thousand souls, that must otherwise have perished in the wilderness. It is here, at this gospel Bethesda, that thou hast met many a cripple, who has long lain waiting for the moving of the waters, and bid him rise, take up his bed and walk. Here, also, even in breaking of bread, hast thou been known, to the inexpressible astonishment and joy of thy sorrowing disciples.

Hither, therefore, are we come, in humble hope of having fellowship with the Father, and with his Son, Christ Jesus. O! thou, who canst have compassion on the ignorant, and them that are out of the way, cast us not away from thy presence. Send us not empty away. Disperse the cloud that has long separated between our souls and thee, and manifest thyself to each of us so sweetly and