for that outward sense; nor have we said, “Let them believe who have seen with their eyes,
and handled with their hands the Lord Himself after His resurrection, if what is said be true;
we do not touch Him, why should we believe?” If we were to entertain such thoughts, we
should be kept back from the supper by those “five pairs of oxen.” That ye may know,
Brethren, that not the gratification of these five senses, which softens and ministers pleasure,
but a kind of curiosity was denoted, He did not say, “‘I have bought five pairs of oxen,’ and
I go to feed them;” but, “I go to prove them.” He who wishes to “prove” by “the pairs of
oxen,” does not wish to be in doubt, just as St. Thomas by these “pairs” did not wish to be
in doubt. “Let me see, let me touch, let me put in my fingers.” “‘Behold,’ saith the Lord, ‘put
in thy fingers along My Side, and be not unbelieving.’3485 For thy sake have I been slain; at
the place which thou wishest to touch, have I shed My Blood, that I might redeem thee; and
dost thou still doubt of Me, unless thou touch Me? Behold, this too I grant; behold, this too
I show thee; touch, and believe; find out the place of My wound, heal the wound of thy
doubting.”
6. “The third said, I have married a wife.” This is the pleasure of the flesh, which is a
hindrance to many: and I would that it were so only without, and not within! There are men
who say, “There is no happiness for a man, if he have not the pleasures of the flesh.” These
are they whom the Apostle censures, saying, “‘Let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we shall
die.’3486 Who hath risen to this life from the other? Who hath ever told us what goes on
there? We take away with us, what in the time present makes our happiness.” He that speaks
thus, “has married a wife,” attaches himself to the flesh, places his delight in the pleasures
of the flesh, excuses himself from the supper; let him look well to it that he die not by an
inward famine. Attend to John, the holy Apostle and Evangelist; “Love not the world, neither
the things that are in the world.”3487 O ye who come to the Supper of the Lord, “Love not
the world, neither the things that are in the world.” He did not say, “Have not;” but, “Love
not.” Thou hast had, possessed, loved. The love of earthly things, is the bird-lime of the
spirit’s wings. Lo, thou hast desired, thou hast stuck fast. “Who will give thee wings as of a
dove?”3488 When wilt thou fly, whither thou mayest in deed, seeing thou hast perversely
wished to rest here, where thou hast to thy hurt stuck fast? “Love not the world,” is the divine
trumpet. By the voice of this trumpet unceasingly is it proclaimed to the compass of the
3485 John xx. 27.
3486 1 Cor. xv. 32.
3487 1 John ii. 15.
3488 Ps. liv. 7, Sept. (lv. 6, English version).
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On the words of the Gospel, Luke xiv. 16, ‘A certain man made a great supper,’…