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Acts i. 6.

When they therefore were come together, they asked of Galilee.

must have been spoken on the same occasion, by reason of the
connective particle sv. Our Lord here declares all power in
heaven and on earth to be given to him at his resurrection; in
consequence of which power, he proceeds to tell his disciples,
that he had the authority and right to commission them to con-
vert, baptize, and instruct the world: "Go ye therefore,"
that is, in consequence of this power, or absolute authority.
On the above clause our Lord founds his authority to commis-
sion his disciples: it was therefore rather unskilful to destroy
the force of the argument by dismembering the speech. Now,
as we learn from St. Mark, that our Lord did not commission
his disciples till he led them out to his ascension, so, as we are
not aware of any reasons to the contrary, we think it best to
consign this passage in St. Matthew to the time of the ascension.
Indeed, the passage itself furnishes internal evidence that it
was spoken on this occasion: it implies that the disciples
were fully instructed, and that our Lord was now going to take
his final leave of them. We say, final leave; for the words,
"Lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world,"
can have no other meaning than this, "Though I am going
now to ascend with my body into heaven, and therefore will be
no longer visibly upon earth; yet will I be always spiritually
with you, and your successors, and direct the Church, even
unto the end of the world." This seems to me a strong indica-
tion that the passage in question can have been spoken on no
other occasion than that of the ascension.

It is observable, that the Evangelists were more careful in
giving us the words of our Lord, than in noting on what par-
ticular occasions they were spoken. The speech in St. Mat-
thew, for instance, one might think, at first view, was given on
the mountain in Galilee. He indeed says, that our Lord spoke
then unto his disciples; but I cannot apprehend that he would
commission them so soon, and give them to understand that he
was then about to take his final leave of them, and ascend into
heaven. For the ascension did not take place till what we may
call long after the appearance on the Galilean mountain. St.
Matthew then, not thinking it material to notice what parti-
cular words our Lord spoke on the mountain in Galilee, only
says, "That Jesus came up and spake unto his disciples."
This was enough to show us, that he of consequence removed
the doubts of those of his disciples who had not beheld him till
then after his resurrection. We may render, and point the
18th verse in the following manner: Then Jesus came up, and
spake unto them.

We may understand this clause as the ending of the transaction on the mountain in Galilee, so far as we have it recorded. And as our translators have rendered, in innumerable instances, the participle as if it were a verb, so we may be allowed the same liberty here, especially when the true meaning of the Evangelist, and the just method of harmonizing, seem to require it: and render λɛywv, not literally, Saying, but, He saith. This therefore may begin a new paragraph, continued on till the end of his Gospel; which paragraph we are under the necessity of supposing was meant by St. Matthew to relate to the ascension. Had the Evangelist written kat, deyel, the matter would not be capable of dispute. But, on the other hand, when we discover sufficient reasons to assure us that this paragraph refers to our Lord's last appearance to his disciples, and, consequently, that its place should not be regulated by the

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Acts i. 6. him, saying, Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the Galilee.
kingdom to Israel?

7. And he said unto them, It is not for you to know the
times or the seasons which the Father hath put in his own
power.

8.

Mar. xvi.15.

42

But ye shall receive power "2, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.

And he said unto them,

Mtxxviii18. saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. 19. Go ye therefore,

Mar.xvi.15. Go ye into all the world,

Mtxxviii19. and teach all nations,

Mar. xvi.15. and preach the Gospel to every creature.

Mtxxviii19. baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost;

20.

Mar.xvi.16.

17.

18.

Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you;

He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.

And these signs shall follow them that believe: In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues;

They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them: they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.

Mtxxviii19. and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.

Mar. xvi.19.

Acts i. 9.

51.

So then after the Lord had spoken to them,
And when he had spoken these things,

Lu.xxiv.50. he lifted up his hands, and blessed them.
And it came to pass, while he blessed them,
while they beheld,

Acts i. 9.

word λɛywv; and when we also take into account the manner of
the Evangelists in several instances, how they, by reason of
their close adherence to brevity, seem to bring into one view,
as belonging to one and the same transaction, things which,
on a minuter inspection, we find to relate to different transac
tions; the liberty may be allowed to the harmonist of departing
from the usual translation of the original reading, so far as he
may judge it necessary. The passage in St. Luke contains in-
ternal evidence that it must be understood of no other than
our Lord's last appearance to his disciples on Mount Olivet (a.)
(a) Cranfield's Observations on Townson. &c. sect. xii. p. 75, 76.
42 We must not understand dúvapur, which we translate
power, in this verse, as we do ovoia, which is translated by
the same word in the preceding verse. In the former, the in-
finite authority of God over all times and seasons is particularly
pointed out : in the other, the energy communicated by him to his
disciples, through which they were enabled to work miracles, is
particularly intended.

Lu.xxiv.51. he was parted from them,

Acts i. 9. he was taken up;

Lu.xxiv.51. and carried up into heaven.

Acts i. 9.

and a cloud received him out of their sight.

Mar.xvi.19. he was received up into heaven, and sate on the right hand of God 43.

43 In each of the three dispensations a visible ascension of the body has taken place. Some holy personage has been visibly taken up into heaven. In the first of these periods, between the Creation and the Deluge, Enoch was translated: "He was not," says the Scriptures, "he did not die;" for, "he walked with God, and God took him." During the second period, from the Deluge to the Advent of our Saviour, Elijah was visibly taken up into heaven: "It came to pass as he and Elisha still went on and talked, that behold there appeared a chariot of fire, and horses of fire, and parted them both asunder; and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven. During the third period, which has continued nearly two thousand years, in which we and the whole Christian Church now live, and which will be concluded only by the day of judgment, Christ, our Lord, while in the act of blessing his disciples"and while they beheld, was taken up, and a cloud received him out of their sight." He ascended into heaven, and he now sitteth, till he shall again come to judge the living and the dead, at the right hand of God. Whatever were the sundry ways and divers manners in which God, by his prophets appealed to the Jewish world; whatever reception we ourselves may give to the precepts and the sanctions of his Evangelists and Apostles, who have more especially written for the Christian dispensation, this is undeniable: that God, in every age has made most abundant provision to prove and demonstrate to all the certainty of another life, and another state of being. In the great mercy of our Almighty Creator, this solemn truth has been enforced by three visible ascensions into heaven, an earnest to the world of the certainty of that great day, when all the Church of God, from the days of Adam, till the sounding of the trumpet of the Archangel, shall assemble before the judgment seat of Christ. As surely as Enoch, and Elijah, and our Lord Jesus Christ ascended into heaven, so also shall we ascend from our graves, to give an account of the deeds done in the body, whether they be good or bad.

Where is now the body of Christ, which ascended in a visible and tangible shape? Wherever body exists, it must exist in reference to place, and heaven cannot therefore be merely a state or condition. There must be, then, in some part of the universe of God, a place in which the glory of the Deity is more immediately and peculiarly manifest, where the body of Christ now is, the real "holy of holies," the true Christian heaven. There is the seat of that happiness which is peculiarly prepared and destined for the faithful followers of Christ. There is the abode of angels; there, are the spirits of the just made perfect; there is God, the Judge of all. To that place, and to the state and condition of happiness which is enjoyed there, every son of man may arrive, to whom the invitation of divine mercy has been extended. There is our home, here is our pilgrimage. There is our Father, here we are pilgrims of strangers. There is the Son of God, our Brother, and our Friend, here we live among fallen creatures, a cold and selfish world. There is peace, and repose, and rest, here is vexation, turbulence, and sorrow. Frail indeed is the veil or

Galilee.

La.xxiv. 52.
Acts i. 10.

11.

12.

And they worshipped him,

And while they looked stedfastly toward heaven, as he went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel; Which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.

Then returned they unto Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is from Jerusalem a sabbath-day's journey".

mortality which separates us from that holy mansion of God our
Father; and poor and contemptible are the toys and follies
that bind us to earth, and prevent us from anticipating, with
serene and rational confidence, the summons to the invisible
world, that most assuredly awaits us. He that numbers the very
hairs of our head, in whose book all our members are written,
will not leave us nor forsake us in the grave. He shall separate
our corrupted and mouldering bodies from the confused mass of
atoms by which they may be surrounded, with as much faithful-
ness and truth as the loadstone will draw to itself the smallest
filing of steel, from the innumerable grains of sand by which it
may be encompassed. Why then should it seem a thing im-
possible to you that Christ should raise the dead? The voice
of inspiration has declared, "Thy dead men shall live, to-
gether with my dead body shall they arise. And the earth
shall cast out the dead." (Isa. xxvi. 19.) And that same glori-
fied body which the disciples saw ascend, shall at the last day
descend, and conduct us from the grave and gate of death to
the glorious home of holiness and purity, to the new Jerusa-
lem, the city of the living God.

44 The difficulty of this verse, when collated with the ac-
counts given by the other Evangelists, are thus reconciled by
Dr. Lightfoot.

1. In Luke xxiv. 50. we read, "He led them out as far as Bethany," and in this passage (Acts i. 12.) that when the disciples came back from the place where our Lord had ascended, "they returned from Mount Olivet, distant from Jerusalem, a sabbath day's journey." But now the town of Bethany was about fifteen furlongs from Jerusalem, John xi. 18. and that is double a sabbath day's journey.

2. Josephus tells us, that Mount Olivet was but five furlongs from the city, and a sabbath day's journey was seven furlongs and a half. Antiq. lib. xx. cap. vi. O kai rηg πоλews ävтIKOVÝ κείμενον, ἀπεχει στάδια πέντε ; which being situated in front of the city, is distant five furlongs.

These things are all true. 1. That the Mount of Olives lay but five furlongs distant from Jerusalem. 2. That the town of Bethany was fifteen furlongs. 3. That the disciples were brought by Christ as far as Bethany. 4. That when they returned from the Mount of Olives, they travelled more than five furlongs. And, 5. Returning from Bethany, they travelled but a sabbath day's journey. All which may be easily reconciled, if we would observe, that the first space from the city was called Bethpage, which part of the mount was known by the name "to the length of about a sabbath day's journey," till it came to that part which is called Bethany. There was a Bethany, a tract of the mount, and also the town of Bethany. The town was distant from the city about fifteen furlongs, i. e. about two

Galilee.

Lu, xxiv.52. and returned to Jerusalem with great joy:

53.

Mar.xvi.20.

John xx. 30.

31.

Joh. xxi. 25.

And were continually in the temple, praising and blessing God. Amen.

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

SECTION XXXV.

St. John's Conclusion to the Gospel History of Jesus Christ.
JOHN XX. 30, 31. xxi. 25.

45

And many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book;

But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name.

And there are also many other things which Jesus did, the which if they should be written every one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written. Amen.

miles, or double a sabbath day's journey: but the first border of this tract (which also bore the name of Bethany) was distant but one mile, or a single sabbath day's journey.

Our Saviour led out his disciples, when he was about to ascend, to the very first region or tract of Mount Olivet, which was called Bethany, and was distant from the city a sabbath day's journey. And so far also from the city itself did that tract extend itself which was called Bethpage: and when he was come to that place where the bounds of Bethpage and Bethany met, and touched one another, he then ascended; in that very place where he got upon the ass when he rode into Jerusalem, Mark xi. 1. Whereas, therefore, Josephus saith, that Mount Olivet was but five furlongs from the city, he means the first brink and border of it. But our Evangelist must be understood of the place where Christ ascended, where the name of Olivet began, as it was distinguished from Bethpage.

45 It has been supposed by Grotius, that the Gospel of St. John was originally terminated at the end of the 23d verse of chapter xx. and the remainder of the Gospel was added by the Church at Ephesus. This opinion, however, is rejected by Wetstein, Michaelis, Whitby, &c.

Galilee.

END OF VOL. I.

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