Then they told their tale, and suddenly, while they yet were speaking, and perhaps replying to the others’ doubting questions[621], _the Lord stood in their midst_ (Lk. xxiv. 36; Jn. xx. 19), and saluted them with the words, _Peace be unto you_. Terrified by so sudden an apparition, they imagined that they beheld a spectre or phantom, and shrunk back. But He calmed their fears. _Why are ye troubled_, He enquired, and _why do thoughts arise in your hearts? Behold My hands and My feet, for a spirit hath not flesh and bones as ye see Me have._ But though He shewed them His hands and His side (Jn. xx. 20), their joy still struggled with unbelief (Lk. xxiv. 41) and bewilderment, on which He enquired whether they had anything to eat, and when they gave Him a piece of a broiled fish and of an honeycomb, the remains probably of their evening meal, He took and ate in their presence (Lk. xxiv. 42, 43). Then with the reiterated salutation, _Peace be unto you_ (Jn. xx. 21), He proceeded, _As the Father hath sent Me, even so send I you_; and with these words _He breathed on them_ and said, _Receive ye the Holy Ghost: whosesoever sins ye remit, they are remitted; and whosesoever sins ye retain, they are retained_ (Jn. xx. 23). On the evening, however, of this first Easter-day, when the risen Saviour thus manifested Himself to the Apostles, and bestowed upon them the firstfruits[622] of the effusion of the Holy Spirit, one of their number, Thomas[623], was not present. Why he was not has been much debated. Some suppose it was owing to an accident. Others imagine that he had thrown away all hope, that he had concluded it was impossible that his crucified Lord could ever revive. Certain it is that he was not with the rest in their wonted place of meeting. When, therefore, he was informed by the others of the wondrous appearance in the upper-room, he utterly refused to believe it. _Unless_, said he, _I shall see in His hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into His side, I will not believe_ (Jn. xx. 25). Slow of faith, subject to despondency, ever ready to take the darker view of things, and to distrust extraordinary good news all the more because it was good, he could not accept the evidence of his fellow Apostles in so weighty a matter as the resurrection of his Lord, he must see and touch Him for himself[624].