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God. Amen.

493

ccili.

They return to Jerusalem, and praise God in the temple. praising and blessing his house, and in their own retirements. Amen! SECT. May God always be praised by us, and by all who receive his gospel, for the discoveries and Luke attestations of it given to these his servants, and XXIV. by them to us!

MARK XVI. 20. And they went forth, and preached every where, the Lord working with them, and confirming the word with signs following. Amen.

JOHN XXI. 25.

шuany other things

sence of his disciples,

53

And, in a few days after this (as will be shewn Mark more largely in the following history), their XVI. 20. ascended Lord, in remembrance of his promise to them, sent down as a royal donative the extraordinary influences of his Spirit upon them, fully to qualify them for that important office to which they were designed. And going forth with this furniture, they preached the gospel every where throughout the whole Roman empire, and even among the barbarous nations, with amazing success; the Lord, according to his promise, working with them, and confirming the word of his grace by the signs and miracles which followed it; which were at once the most solid, as well as the most obvious and popular demonstrations of those Divine truths which they delivered. Amen! So may the presence of the Lord be always with his faithful ministers! and may his gospel be attended every where with efficacy and success, as well as with convincing evidences of its Divine authority!

And thus we have given a summary account of John And there are also the most remarkable passages of the life of Christ XXI. 25. which Jesus did; [and during the time of his abode on earth: but afmany other signs truly ter all, it must be considered only as a specimen, did Jesus in the pre- rather than a full narration; for there are also which are not written many other things that Jesus said and did, and in this book ;] the indeed many other signs and miracles, that Jesus be written every one, wrought, both before and after his resurrection, I suppose that even in the presence of his disciples which are not writthe world itself could ten in this book of the four evangelists, which is that should be written, here completed; and which indeed are so nu[JOHN XX. 30.]

which, if they should

not contain the books

merous, that if every one [of them] should be recorded in all its circumstances, I am persuaded the work would amount to so vast a bulk, that the world itself would not be able to receive the books that should be written; but the very size of the volumes would necessarily prevent the geJOHN XX. 50. But nerality of mankind from procuring or reading these them. But these most nccessary and impor

e The world itself would not be able to receive the books, &c.] There would be no great inconvenience in allowing an hyperbole here, as most expositors do, of

tant

which we meet with other instances in scripture: (see Gen. xi. 4; Numb. xiii. 33; and compare John xii. 19.) But I think the sense given in the paraphrase easier 322

and

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Reflections on the great design of the gospel.

have life through his

SECT. tant things are written, in this plain way, and in these are written, that cciii. this portable volume, not merely that the reader ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ the John may be amused by so curious a story, but that Son of God, and that XX. 30. the faith, the hope, and the piety of Christians, believing, ye might may be confirmed; and especially that you may name. [Amen.] [JOHN more firmly and assuredly believe that Jesus is XXI.-25.] the Messiah, the Son of God, partaking of the same Divine glory with the Father, and the sure object of his people's confidence; and that believing it, you may be so influenced by his instructive discourses, his complete example, and his dying love, that you may have eternal life through his name. And may God grant, that as it is all most certainly and circumstantially true, so it may have that happy effect upon all those by whom this history is perused, from age to age! Amen.

Luke

IMPROVEMENT.

THUS did our victorious Saviour ascend on high, and lead xxiv. 51. captivity captive: the chariots of God which attended him were twenty thousand, even thousands of angels! (Psal. Ixviii. 17, 18): and being gone into heaven, he is there seated on the right-hand of God; angels, and authorities, and powers being made subject to Acts 1.9. him; (1 Pet. iii. 22.) Let us his humble followers look after him 10 with holy joy and pleasing expectation; congratulating his triumphs, and trusting through his grace to share them.

Luke XXIV. 52.

Acts

3. 7.

Like the apostles, let us bow down and worship him; and while we continue bere below, let us make it our daily labour and care to seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth at the right-hand of God: (Col. iii. 1.) And, instead of amusing ourselves with the vain dreams of temporal grandeur and felicity, or with curious inquiries after those times and seasons which the Father has reserved in his own power, let us apply with vigour and zeal to that business which he has assigned us; labouring to the utmost to promote his gospel, and, by a diligent improvement

and more suited to the remarkable plain-
ness of St. John's style. Elsner explains
this passage, as if the evangelist had said,
"If they were all to be particularly writ-
ten, the unbelieving world would not ad-
mit them, so as to be moved by them to
faith and obedience." And he produces
instances in which ywgy has such a sig-
nification. But, as John knew the unbe-
lieving world would reject even what he
had writ, this could be no reason for his
writing no more.-Perhaps it may be a
most delightful part of the entertainment

of

of the heavenly world, to learn from our blessed Lord himself, or from those who conversed with him on earth, a multitude of such particulars of his life, as will be well worthy our everlasting admiration. In the mean time, the pious and attentive study of what is here recorded, may most happily prepare us for such discoveries, and add an unutterable relish to them: Amen! So may it be, to the author of this Exposition, and to all those who do, or may peruse it!

Reflections on the great design of the gospel.

495

SFCT.

cciii.

of our time and opportunities, to prepare for his final appearance, when the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with more public splendour than he returned thither, and shall come in the glory of Ver. his Father, and his own glory, with a majestic pomp which every 11 'eye shall see, and with the sound of a trumpet, which even all the nations of the dead shall hear.

In the mean time, let us thankfully own his gracious presence Mark with his disciples, whom he left behind him; and with admiring xvi. 20 gratitude reflect upon the happy consequences of that presence, in the establishment of the gospel in the world, and the transmission of it even unto us, in so remote an age and country.

xxi. 25

Let us especially praise him for these sacred records which John contain such an authentic and exact account of those important facts in which we are all so nearly concerned; records incomparably more valuable than the writings of our private estates, or the charters of our public liberties. Let us earnestly pray, that their great design may be answered in us; and make it our importunate request to Him who is the giver of all grace, that through the operations of that Holy Spirit, without the influence. of which even scripture itself, with all our advantages for understanding and improving it, will be but a sealed book, or a dead letter, our faith may be nourished and confirmed by every portion of it which we read; and that our hearts may be so delivered into the mould of his word, that believing on Christ, under all the John characters he bears, we may have life through his name; and may at length receive the end of our faith, in the complete salvation of our souls, through him, to whom with the Father, and the eternal Spirit, be undivided honours, and everlasting praises. Amen, and Amen!

THE

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St. Luke connects this history with his gospel.

THE ACTS OF THE HOLY APOSTLES,

WRITTEN BY ST. LUKE.

SECT.

i.

Acts

SECT. 1.

St. Luke connects this history with his gospel, by a more particular account of the ascension of Christ than he had there given. Acts I. 1-12.

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THE former treatise Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do

have I made, O

THE former treatise, which I lately composed, and inscribed to thee, O Theophilus, contained a faithful narrative, as far as 1.1. might be necessary for the confirmation of a and teach, Christian convert, concerning all the most considerable things which Jesus began both to do and to teach, and gave an account of the manner in

a The former treatise I composed.] This former treatise is undoubtedly the Gospel, which was written by St. Luke, and dedicated by him to Theophilus: and, as this history of the Acts was written by the same person, it is allowed by all antiquity, the author of it was St. Luke, whom the apostle Paul styles the beloved physician, (Col. iv. 14) and speaks of as his fellowlabourer, (Philem. ver. 24.) who was with him at Rome, when he wrote his epistles to the Colossians and to Philemon, and again afterwards when he wrote his Second Epistle to Timothy; (2 Tim. iv. 11) and so continued an associate and companion to the apostle Paul, as it is evident, from his manner of expression, the penman of the Acts had been, in several of his travels, and in his dangerous voyage when he went first to Rome. This book is generally thought to have been written about the year of our Lord 63, at which time the history ends, which it is reasonable to suppose would have proceeded further, if it had been written later: and probably, as Mr. L'Enfant and others have observed, it made as it were a second Part of St. Luke's Gospel, which in all copies has the author's name prefixed, while this is left without a title in the oldest manuscripts; though in the Syriac Version it is expressly ascribed to Luke, whom

which

the translator seems to call his master.— Not to mention the supposed allusions to this book in Barnabas, Clemens Romanus, Hermas, Ignatius, and Polycarp, it is certain that Irenæus, Clemens Alexandrinus, Tertullian, Origen, and Eusebius, bear the most express testimonies to the genuineness of it, in a multitude of passages, which I need not here insert, as they are produced at large by Dr. Benson, in the first Part of the Appendix to his History of the Plantation of Christianity, Vol. II. p. 295-310; and, since the publication of that, by Mr. Biscoe, in his learned Discourses at Boyle's Lectures, chap. xiv. xv. where he has shown in a most convincing manner, how capable these ancient writers were of judging in this matter, and how universally it was owned by the Christians of the first ages as a sacred book. How incontestably it demonstrates the truth of Christianity, is shewn at large in both these useful treatises, and every attentive reader must needs observe it for himself.

b Began both to do and to teach.] To begin to do a thing, as Heinsius and many other critics have observed, is a common Greek idiom for doing or undertaking a thing. Compare Mat. xii. 1; with Luke vi. 1 ; and Mark vi. 2; with Mat. xiii. 54. See also Gen. ii. 3; Septuag. Numb. xxv. 1;

Judg.

up, after

Christ being now to take leave of his disciples,

497

which Christ opened the gospel, and in which he sECT. confirmed it, from his first appearance on earth

he that

apostles whom he had chosen.

very

i.

2 Until the day in to the last period of his abode upon it; Even Acts which he was taken to the day in which he was taken up into 1.2. through the Holy heaven again, after he had by the influence and Ghost had given com- assistance of the Holy Spirit, with which he mandments unto the himself was so abundantly anointed, given a proper charge to the apostles, whom he had chosen to be the prime ministers of his kingdom, and the great instruments of extending it in the 3 To whom also he world: To whom also, in order to fit them 3 more completely for the discharge of their important office, he presented himself alive after his sufferings, with many most evident testimonials of the truth of his resurrection; while, though he declined appearing publicly among the Jews, he often shewed himself to his disciples, being seen by them at various times for no less than forty days, and speaking to them of the things concerning the kingdom of God, which was then shortly to be erected by their means.

shewed himself alive after his passion, by

many infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days, and speak ing of the things per

taming to the kingdom of God:

4 And, being assem

And, on the fortieth day after his resurrec- 4 bled together with tion, having assembled them together with pecuthem that they should liar solemnity, he charged them not to depart not depart from Je- from Jerusalem directly, though he was now

them, commanded

rusalem,

Judg. xiii. 5; xx. 31; Luke iii. 8; xxi. 28; and Acts ii. 4. Yet in most of these places it refers to some of the first actions or events of the kind. Accordingly I apprehend, with Chrysostom, that the phrase here refers to the account which Luke had given of Christ's ministry, from the beginning and first rise of it, (as he speaks, Luke i. 2, 3,) to the ascension, with which he concludes his Gospel.

c By the Holy Spirit.] It is certainly much more agreeable to the order and construction of the words in the original, to connect and explain them as above, than to refer them, as the Syriac and Ethiopic Versions do, to his choosing the apostles by the Spirit, or with Elsner, (Observ. Vol. I. p. 353,) to his being taken up by it. It is no wonder, considering how short a history we have of what passed between Christ's resurrection and ascension, that this should be the only place which speaks of his acting by the Spirit after he rose from the dead: nor can I, with a late learned and ingenious writer, think that a sufficient reason for adhering to the versions mentioned above. (See Benson's Plantation of Christianity, Vol. I. p. 14, 15.) His breathing on the apostles, and saying, Receive ye the Holy Spirit; (John xx. 22;) seems also to

to

agree very well with this interpretation.
To render it, the orders they were to execute
by the Holy Spirit, (as in the Translation of
1727,) is altogether arbitary, and is sub-
stituting a quite different truth instead of
what was written by Luke.-I have be
fore inserted the remaining verses of this
section in the two last sections, to complete
the History of our Lord to the time of his
ascension: (See note d, sect. ceii). But
notwithstanding this it will be easily ex-
cused, that I have not omitted them here
in their proper place, that the whole
History of the Acts might stand together,
and the work be kept entire.

d Having assembled them together.] Though
some considerable ancient as well as mo-
dern critics, and particularly Chrysostom,
and Theophylact, understand the word
ouviu as expressive of Christ's
eating with his apostles during the forty days
spoken of above; the Notes of Elsner,
(Observ. Vol. I. p. 555,) and Raphelius,
(ex Xen. p. 146, et Herod. p. 320, & seq.)
seem abundantly sufficient to justify the
version here given.

e Not to depart from Jerusalem.] This seems a plain intimation, that, after our Lord had met his disciples in Galilee, he appointed the apostles to meet him at Je

rusalem,

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