Messiahship were as nothing; that He was a deceiver, and that they had been deceived. Expectation of His resurrection they had none. They had been graciously indeed forewarned against despair, through being assured that upon the third day He would rise again. Yet, in spite of this, they gave themselves up to despondency, and in the tumult of the anguish which our Lord's death occasioned, they had neither hope nor faith sufficient to grasp the reality of His conquest over the grave.

The chapter before us relates what occurred upon the third day after the Saviour's death, the day upon which Christ actually broke the bands of the sepulchre. Two of the disciples were walking together to Emmaus, a small village not far from Jerusalem. As they journeyed onward they were overtaken by Jesus Himself, although they recognised Him not, but took Him for a stranger. Sorrow of heart often makes friends of strangers; and the events which

had recently occurred in Jerusalem were of so public a nature, and so intimately concerned the whole nation of the Jews, that it is not to be wondered at, the three began at once to converse upon them. Jesus having asked, "What manner of communications are these that ye have one to another, as ye walk, and are sad ?" they instantly unfolded the burden of their grief and disappointment, plainly confessing the despair they were in on account of the decease of Him whom they trusted would have redeemed Israel.

Jesus suffered them to spread before Him all their trouble; and when they had made an end of doing so, He began to reason with them from that source to which He always appealed for the resolution of doubt or the rebuke of unbelief. 'Beginning at Moses and all the prophets, He expounded unto them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself."

No record of that exposition is preserved.

We can but ill imagine what must have been its power, beauty, simplicity, and persuasiveness. At all events, it was followed by the kindling of fresh hope in the minds of His wondering companions; the veil was removed from their understandings. At length "their eyes were opened, and they knew Him, and He vanished out of their sight." Then it was they exclaimed the one to the other, "Did not our heart burn within us, while He talked with us by the way, and while He opened to us the Scriptures ?"

It will not be needful for me to allude at greater length to the circumstances connected with the first utterance of the text. It is enough to bear in mind that we have here an example of intercourse upon divine things maintained between Christ and His disciples, as they travelled together by the wayside. This intercourse resulted in a kindling of decayed fervour, a revival of drooping hope, and the dispersion of groundless fear.

The circumstances were doubtless peculiar, yet they may be regarded as furnishing a lesson to the value which Christians might often derive from converse upon the things of God, with the presence of Jesus by His own Spirit to cheer them, and the Scriptures of truth to furnish the ground of their mutual deliberation.

We now turn to the main subject before us in the desire, by the help of the Holy Spirit, to point out some of those blessings which may be reasonably expected to flow from religious intercourse between the disciples of Christ. May the Holy Spirit be present to guide our endeavour, and to make the practical consideration of this subject instrumental to our spiritual profit!

1. Now "religious intercourse stands closely connected with that association together of the Lord's people, which is one badge and mark of their separation from the world, and of their discipleship to Jesus. One of the great dangers of the present day

arises from the breaking down in great measure of the barriers which divide the world, as such,' from the professing Church of Christ.

The world has come to tolerate the form of godliness. It will allow men to assume that form without either reproach or ridicule. Hence it has come to pass, that the line of demarcation between the professing disciples of Jesus and the mass of the unconverted around them is far less visibly and clearly defined in practice than, judging from God's word, ought to be the case.

It is not that the world has become more religious, not that there is in the world a whit less of real and determined aversion to the things of God. But it is the policy of Satan not to oppose a mere form of religion; a show of godliness will frequently satisfy the conscience, when, in place of furthering the soul's salvation, it helps onward its perdition.

The world still lies in wickedness; its