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SERMON VIII.

THE JOURNEY TO EMMAUS.

LUKE xxiv. 32.

And they said one to another, Did not our heart burn within us, while he talked with us by the and while he opened unto us the scriptures?

way,

To a mind that attentively considers the narrative of our Saviour's resurrection, as it is detailed in the chapter before us, it may seem scarcely possible, that any additional proof of the correct

ness and truth of the account of that wonderful event, could have been adduced at least, that any additional proof could have been deemed necessary to establish our belief of that fact. The whole narrative has so often been defended, and that successfully, against the unreasonable cavils of scepticism, that we need not enter upon a subject so trite as the examination of the evidences of our Lord's resurrection. But the portion of the chapter in immediate connexion with the text, while it may appear interesting to

us in other points of view, does also contain in itself the strongest internal evidence of the truth of its statements. The journey to Emmaus of the two disciples, overwhelmed with grief for the apparent ruin of their fondest expectations, and whose hearts were busy only with the events of the previous days, is so simply, and yet so circumstantially narrated, as to bear about it every impress of nature and of truth. The conversation in which Jesus, as yet unrecognised, joined; the expression of his sympathy with the sorrow so evident in their countenances; the effect produced upon them by his lucid exposition of the visions of sorrow and of triumph, which he unfolded to their astonished imaginations, and which they had so long failed to observe in these very scriptures, are all so naturally depicted, that it could not have been the work of one practised in deceit, or anxious to mislead. The account of the gradual yet strong conviction wrought upon their minds by the conversation of Jesus; the evident beginning of their adoption of that faith which they afterwards acknowledged; the anxiety with which they listened to the arguments by which Jesus enforced the question, "Ought not Christ to have suffered such things, and to enter into his glory ?" are so many strong proofs of the substantial correctness of the gospel narrative,—so many collateral and corroborative evidences of the fact, "The Lord is risen indeed."

We are aware that much misconception existed amongst the disciples of our blessed Lord, upon the real nature of that kingdom which he announced that he was come to establish. It was not, perhaps, till the actual accomplishment of his so often repeated prophecies respecting his crucifixion, that the disciples were undeceived as to the temporal sovereignty of their Master: "We trusted that it had been he that should have redeemed Israel," was still the expression of their failing faith. Probably with a view of preparing the minds of the rest of the disciples, for a more explicit communication of the real nature of his mission, Jesus joined himself to two of their company, who were journeying to a village at a short distance from Jerusalem, on the very morning on which he had risen from the dead. They had heard the rumour of the wonderful event which had taken place they had heard that certain women of their company had seen a vision of angels, which said that he was alive: they had heard of the empty sepulchre, and the disappearance of his body; and they were anxiously reasoning with each other of those things that had happened. They were prevented, however, from recognizing Jesus, and thus expressed to him with greater freedom, the subject of their anxious conversation. "What manner of communications are these that ye have one with another, as ye

walk, and are sad? And one of them, whose name was Cleopas, answering, said unto him, Art thou only a stranger in Jerusalem, and hast not known the things which are come to pass there in these days? And he said, What things? and they said, Concerning Jesus of Nazareth, which was a prophet mighty in deed and in word before God and all the people; and how the chief priests and rulers have delivered him to be condemned to death, and have crucified him : but we trusted that it had been he which should have delivered Israel." To this declaration of their anxieties, accompanied by the faint expression of some hope which still lingered around their hearts, in consequence of the rumours they had heard, Jesus replied by appealing to the scriptures, as containing sufficient evidence, that if he were the deliverer of Israel, as they expected, they could have had no reason to look for other things than they had witnessed; and that in the Messiah's character, the lineaments of humiliation and of glory were united, with the same exactness as in the actual occurrences of the life, and death, and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth. "O thoughtless, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into his glory?" And on such a subject, how must their hearts have indeed burned within them, while they heard the in

structions of their Master! Well might they have suspected, that something of that divine eloquence and wisdom was not altogether strange to their ears; and how must they have rejoiced to find the very anticipations of their hearts realized, in a moment they least expected, when Jesus of Nazareth pointed out himself to their view, as the promised Messiah of the prophecies ! The cross which they had so dreaded, and from the very thought of which they had fled, would now appear to them as the mysterious altar of an all-sufficient sacrifice that resurrection of which they had heard the rumour—a rumour almost too joyful for their sorrowing hearts to believewould now appear only as the prelude to scenes of brighter triumph, and more exalted glory. And when all these views were more than confirmed by their recognition of him, as he sat with them at meat, how did they hasten to the apostles with the confirmation of the Saviour's resurrection and how would the tale of this conversation prepare the hearts of their fellows for the more complete acknowledgment of Jesus, as a Prince whose kingdom was not of this world indeed, but who came to bring deliverance for Israel, to visit and to redeem his people.

But it is not my intention to pursue further the train of obvious reflections, on the effect of this manifestation of Jesus Christ upon the