284 The NEW a,sd COMPLETE LI F E of our BLESSED LORD fatisfied of the truth, he addreffed himfelf particularly to this doubtingdifciple : Tho- mas, faid he, fince thou wilt notbe contented to rely on the teftimony of others, but muff be convinced by the experience of thy own fenfes, behold the wounds in my hands, and reach hither thy hand, and thruft it intomy fide, and doubt no longer of the reality of my refurreaion from the tomb. The incredulous difciple immediately obeyed the kind invitation of his Mafter ; and being fully fatisfied according to his own delire, he cried out, I am abundantly convinced thou art indeed my Lord, the very fame that was crucified ; and I ac- knowledge thy almighty power, in having triumphed over death, and worfhip thee as my God and Saviour. The bleffed JEsus replied, Becaufe thou haft both feen and felt me, Thomas, thou haft believed that I am really rifen from the dead. Bleffed are they who, without fuch evidence of the fenfes, £hall, upon credible teftimony, be willing to be- lieve and embrace a dofirine, which tends fo greatly to the glory of God, and the falvation of. mankind. The bleffed JEsus appeared, according to St John, on feveral other occafions to his difciples after his refurreEtion ; and by many infallible proofs, not mentionedby the evangelifts, fully convinced them, that he was alive after his paffion : but that thofe which are mentioned, are abundantly fufficient to induce men to believe that JEsus was the Son of God, the great Mef- fiah fo often foretold by the ancient pro- phets ; and that by means of that belief, they may obtain everlafling life, in the happy regions of the heavenly Canaan, and there adore and praife him for ever. Jesus having firft by the angels, and afterwards in perfon, ordered his difciples to repair to their refpeaive habitations in Galilee, it is reafonable to think they . would leave Jerufalem as loon as poffible. This they accordingly did, and on their arrival at their refpedlive' places ofabode, applied them felves to their ufual occupa- tions ; and the apoftles returned to their old trade of fishing on the Iake of Tibe- rius. I-Iere they were toiling with their nets very early in the morning, and faw JEsus ftanding On the fhoe, but did not then know him to be their Mailer, as it was fomething dark, and they at a confi- derable diftance from him. He, however, called to them, and afked if they had taken any fifh ; to which they anfwered, they had caught nothing : he then defired them to let down their nets on the right fide of the boat, and they fhould not be difappointed. The difciples imagin- ing that he might be acquainted with the places proper for fifhing, did as he had dire&ed them, and enclofed in their net fo vaft a multitude of fifties, that they were not able to draw it into the boat, but were forced to drag it after them in the water towards the land. They had toiled, it Teems, all the pre- ceding night to no purpofe ; and there- fore fuch remarkable fuccefs could not fail of caufing various conjeaures amongft them, with regard to the firanger on the fhoe, who had given them fuch happy advice. Some of the apoftles declared they could not imagine who he was ; but others were perfuaded, that this perfon was no other than their great and beloved Matter. John was fully convinced of his being the Lord, and accordingly told his thoughts to Simon Peter; who making no doubt of it, girt on his fifher's coat, and leaped into the fea, in order to get afhore fooner than the boat could be brought to land, dragging after it a net full of fuch large fifties as were almoft ready to fink it. The difciples, when they came afhore, found a fire kindled, and on it a fills broil- ing, and near it fome bread : but neither being fufficient for the company, JEsus bid them bring fome of the fish they had now caught, and invited them to eat with him. Thus did the bleffed JEsus prove again to his difciples the reality of his refurreEtion,
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