scribe the miraculous confirmations which accompanied the first preaching of the word; to recount the trials and sufferings of the early followers of Christ; and especially to exhibit the divine and miraculous claims of the Gentiles to admission into the Christian church-a claim strenuously disputed by the Jews at the time of the apostles. On this account a large space is given to the conversion of the Gentile Cornelius, and the decree of the church at Jerusalem concerning the ceremonial law.

The narrative of the Acts of the Apostles is perspicuous and noble. It is worthy of remark, how well St. Luke has supported the character of each person whom he has introduced as speaking. Thus the speeches and discourses of St. Peter are given with simplicity, and are destitute of all those ornaments which usually occur in the orations of the Greeks and Romans. Nearly similar are the speeches of St. Paul which were addressed to the Jews; while those delivered by the same apostle before a heathen audience are widely different. In the latter, though not adorned with the flowers of rhetoric, the language is pointed and energetic, and the materials are judiciously selected and arranged, as is apparent in his speech delivered at Athens, (Acts xvii, 22-31,) and in his two defenses before the Roman governors of Judea. Acts xxiv, xxvi.

This book bears every evidence of having been written by a person acquainted with the various circumstances which he relates, and who was both able and disposed to give a faithful narrative of everything that occurred. The historical details, especially the incidental circumstances mentioned by St. Luke, so exactly correspond, and that without any design on the part of the writer, with the accounts furnished in St. Paul's epistles and in ancient histories, Jewish and heathen, that any person who had forged such a history in later ages must have betrayed himself by alluding to some customs and opinions which have since sprung up, or by misrepresenting some circumstances, or by employing some phrase or expression then in use.

If, therefore, the history is genuine and authentic, Christianity cannot be false; for a religion so pure in itself, attested by so many miraculous evidences, and so well adapted to the wants and woes of man, cannot but have originated with the infinitely wise and eternal God.

NOTES

ON

THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES.

CHAPTER I.

1. Christ, preparing his apostles for beholding his ascension, gathereth them together into the mount Olivet; commandeth them to expect in Jerusalem the sending down of the Holy Ghost; promiseth, after a few days, to send it, by virtue whereof they should be witnesses unto him, even to the uttermost parts of the earth. 9. After his ascension they are warned by two angels to depart, and to set their minds upon his second coming. 12. They accordingly return, and, giving themselves to prayer, choose Matthias apostle in the place of Judas.

THE

HE former treatise have I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach,

2 Until the day in which he was taken up, after that he through

1. The former treatise have I made] The former book or discourse, referring undoubtedly to the Gospel written by St. Luke, and addressed to the same person. Theophilus] There are various opinions concerning this person. Some have supposed that no particular individual was intended, but that, by the term Theophilus, (a friend of God,) all Christians are signified; and that, to the church of Christ, Luke thus dedicates his writings. The most reasonable opinion, however, is, that “he was an inquiring convert to Christianity, probably a native of Italy, but certainly not of Palestine;" as Luke continually makes explanations, in reference to this country, that a resident, or one familiarly acquainted with it, would not have needed. Of all that Jesus began to do and teach] This cannot mean that every act and discourse of our Lord had been related in Luke's Gospel, for many additional discourses are given by St. John; but that he had there given a summary of all the chief and most important events necessary to a proper understanding of the gospel of Christ. Began both to do and to teach, is a Hebrew and Greek idiom, meaning, simply, all that Jesus did and taught.

2. Until the day in which he was taken up] The Gospel by St. Luke commences with the earliest history of Christ, and continues the relation down to the hour when he blessed his disciples, and was parted from them and carried up into heaven." Luke xxiv, 51. After

the Holy Ghost had given commandments unto the apostles whom he had chosen :

3 To whom also he showed himself alive after his passion, by many infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days, and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God:

that he through the Holy Ghost had given commandments] The commandments referred to here, are the precepts and instructions given to the disciples, by our Lord, after his resurrection, and before his ascension. Through the agency of the Holy Spirit he opened their understandings, and enabled them clearly to comprehend the great commission he had given them; for, although the Spirit was bestowed in a greater measure after the ascension of Christ, still, before this, we learn that Jesus "breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost." John xx, 22. Unto the apostles] The eleven that remained after the death of the treacherous Judas.

3. To whom also he showed himself alive] They had been with him at the time he was betrayed into the hands of the high priests, at the hour of his death and burial, and had almost despaired of his being the Redeemer of Israel; but now he had given them the most convincing testimony of his power and Messiahship: he appears before them-alive-bearing the same countenance, with the same form he had before his crucifixion, and exhibiting the marks of the wounds received upon the cross. After his passion] After his season of suffering-his agony in the garden and on the cross. The word passion is not used here, in its present and common meaning, as significant of an excitement of the mind, but in its original sense, as expressive of the endurance of great suffering; and it is still used to express the whole scene of our Lord's bitter pain in the garden and upon the cross-this being called his passion. By many infallible proofs] By proofs or evidences that could not be mistaken. He had appeared to different ones at different times-exhibited his body-spoken with his ordinary voice; his disciples were permitted to eat and drink with him, to examine the prints of his wounds; his doctrines were the same as those delivered before his death; he remained with his disciples forty days, and was seen at appointed places, even, by five hundred at once. Being seen of them forty days] Being seen of them frequently during the space of forty days. We are not informed, in the Scrip ture account of these events, that he remained continually with them, but should infer that he did not. (Compare John xx, 19-26 with xxi, 1-14.) Where he was in the intervals between his manifestations we cannot tell. "He had all power in heaven and on earth;" and there was no lack of ability to appear or to disappear, to be in one

4 And being assembled together with them, commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which, saith he, ye have heard of me.

5 For John truly baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence.

6 When they therefore were come together, they asked of him, saying, Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel?

place or in another, just as he chose. Speaking of things pertaining to the kingdom of God] Giving them instructions in reference to the establishment, the discipline, and the doctrines of his church-the spiritual kingdom, that Christ, through their instrumentality, was about to establish on the earth.

4, 5. (See Notes on the Gospels, vol. iv, pp. 497, 498.)

6. When they therefore were come together] It seems highly probable that, by appointment, Jesus met all the apostles in Jerusalem just before his ascension, giving them important instructions in reference to their course after his removal from them. (See Notes on the Gospels, vol. iv, p. 497.) On the day of his ascension he seems to have led his disciples forth from Jerusalem to the summit of the Mount of Olives, and as far as the borders of Bethany, conversing with them, opening the Scriptures to their understanding, and directing their attention to the great blessing of the Holy Ghost that they would receive not many days from this time. Wilt thou at this time restore, &c.] This question was probably asked at the scene of the ascension. On account of the appointment of this interview by the Saviour, and from the character of the preceding conversation of our Lord, the apostles had reason to expect that some momentous event was about to transpire. Before our Lord's death, the apostles and the other disciples cherished the common opinion of the Jews, that the Messiah would relieve them from the bondage of a temporal power, and, giving them temporal dominion over all their enemies, would sit literally on the throne of his father David and administer the government. Our Lord clearly assured them that his kingdom was not of this world; and, by yielding himself up to his enemies and suffering a painful death at their hand, had given them evidence that it was not his intention, by force, to establish his sway in the world. With his resurrection their former expectations were revived again; and when the "promise of the Father" was referred to by our Lord, and an assurance given that it should be soon fulfilled, their eager curiosity is immediately excited to know if the Roman power is at this time to be broken, and the kingdom to be restored 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 But ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me, both in

7. It is not for you to know, &c.] Our Saviour does not attempt to correct their views as to the character of the promise alluded to. This they will themselves discover on the appointed day; and the Holy Spirit, then given, will "guide them into all truth," in referenceto these matters. He takes occasion, however, to convey, in direct answer to their question, a most important principle. It has pleased God not to make a revelation of the time-the definite period or the seasons—the exact date-when some of the most remarkable prophetic events will transpire. These the Father has fixed by his own authority, and will bring them to a certain fulfillment in his own time. Not even to the angels in heaven are these things revealed, and our Lord did not make them known to his apostles while with them. (Matt. xxiv, 36-51. Notes on the Gospels, vol. iv, p. 184.) Times denote a longer, seasons a shorter, period. Professor Ripley makes the following judicious reflections upon this passage: "The remark of our Saviour to his inquisitive disciples conveys a salutary lesson to us all. When we feel desirous to pry into the counsels of God respecting the future, and to inquire at what time the millennial glory of the church will be ushered in, or when the end of the world will come, or the day of judgment break upon the world, let us check such unprofitable inquiries by remembering, that it is not for us to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath established by his own authority, and kept concealed in his own mind. Soldiers in active service are not expected to be inquiring into the times and seasons when their general's plans are to be executed. Be it, rather, our solicitude to be always ready for our personal summons to the bar of God, and to be always living in such a manner that we shall contribute to the preparation of others, as well as of ourselves, to give up the final account with joy." Put in his own power] Kept within the divine mind. Reserved to himself.

8. But ye shall receive power, &c.] Be endowed with the miraculous gifts of the Holy Ghost. In the margin this is translated, Ye shall receive the power of the Holy Ghost coming upon you; both renderings referring to the same event. The word power here refers to the spiritual aid which they would receive from the Holy Spirit; namely, the power of speaking with divers tongues, of enduring great trials, of working miracles, and of otherwise spreading the gospel. Ye shall be witnesses unto me] Shall give in your testimony of what you have seen,