Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon Him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord.' And again: Behold, My servant, whom I uphold: Mine elect, in whom My soul delighteth: I have put My Spirit upon Him.'

The next particular referred to is

His passion, or suffering:- The former treatise I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and to teach, until the day in which He was taken up, after that He through the Holy Spirit had given commandment unto His Apostles whom He had chosen, to whom He showed Himself alive after His passion.

'It pleased the Lord,' we are told, 'to bruise Him." And who was He who was bruised? He who is represented in Scripture as a lamb without blemish and without spot; He in whom was no sin; He in whom, when the prince of this world came to Him, he could find in Him nothing to accuse Him of in coming short of the perfect law of God; He in whom the Roman governor could find no fault at all. And this perfection constituted the reason of His being put to grief. Had He not been faultless His death and passion could not have accomplished the purpose which the Divine Being had in view in His sending Him into this our world. Man who had sinned had to be redeemed, God could not pass by his transgression till a sacrifice for his offence had been offered without the least taint or spot of imperfection being connected with it. None could offer it but His own Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. He, therefore, took our nature upon Him, fulfilled the law in our stead, and made it honourable, and then offered up Himself in sacrifice for our sins to atone for our transgressions. The sacrifice of His precious blood procured our redemption: The Lord laid on Him the iniquity of us all;' and God in Him is well pleased with all who come to His footstool through Him. When He first announced to the Jews the doctrine of the atonement, He declared that all might be saved if they would only accept of Himself as their atoning sacrifice, saying: 'As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have eternal life.' He was at length lifted up. The sacrifice for sin was made by a sinless victim, even by the Lord our righteousness."

We are justified freely by the grace of God through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus; whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in His blood, to declare His righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; to declare His righteousness, that He might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.'

We see, then, why He suffered. 'He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon Him; and with His stripes we are healed.' But though He died, though He was put to death in the flesh, His soul was not left in the grave; God did not suffer His Holy One to see corruption. Although crucified, although He expired on the cross, and was afterwards consigned to the tomb, and every precaution taken by His enemies to prevent His friendsthose who loved Him-coming by night and taking Him away, and then saying that He was risen, He rose from His tomb, as He said He should do, on the third day, and that to the utter confusion of His enemies. Yes,

He rose from the dead-rose triumphantly from His tomb, and by His resurrection from the dead He was 'declared to be the Son of God with power.' Had He not risen, all our hopes of redemption through His sacrifice must have sunk in the grave with Him. Had He not risen, our hope and faith would be in vain: we should yet be in our sins, and all who fall asleep would perish. But we have no such despair before us. No; as believers in Him we have every encouragement-ground for the deepest assurance, the most solid hope, that in Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins. In God's raising Him from the dead He put His seal of approval on all that He did. It attested the truth of the doctrines which He taught; it imparts the fullest assurance to us that we may rely upon Him as our prophet, priest, and king; that through His atoning blood we may come confidently to the throne of grace, and obtain mercy, and find grace to help us in time of need. It proves, that as He rose from the dead as the first-fruits, we shall rise also. And this is that which so cheers the believer in the prospect before him, when he comes to quit this earthly scene of things. He has hope beyond the grave. He knows that he will not rest there always. He can say with St. Paul,

'There is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give to me at that day; and not to me only, but unto all them that love His appearing.' And the prospect of this cheers also surviving believers on the departure of their friends and companions out of this life. They know that they shall meet again— meet to part no more. Hence they sorrow not as those without hope.

But did Christ rise? Was it a fact that that on which the believer places his hope of a glorious immortality, namely, the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, took place? My text states that He showed Himself to the Apostles alive after His passion by many infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days, and speaking to them of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God. Can anything be more satisfactory, more assuring, that He did live again, that He must have risen from the grave, than His being seen of the Apostles, and in His speaking to them, and that more or less during forty days? They heard Him (St. John states), they saw Him with their eyes, they looked upon Him, their hands handled Him, He ate food in their presence-that which they themselves gave Him. And He was not only seen of the Apostles, but of others. Mary Magdalen saw Him, and saw Him first, and spake with Him, and that on the day of His resurrection. Other women saw Him next on the same day; then two disciples on the same day going to Emmaus; then Peter on the same day. In the evening of the same day nine of the Apostles saw Him. Eight days afterwards ten Apostles saw Him. A few days afterwards, Peter, Thomas, Nathanael, James and John, and two other disciples, saw Him at the Sea of Tiberias. Then five hundred brethren saw Him in Galilee, with the eleven Apostles. Afterwards James saw Him; then again the Apostles, and this at the time of His ascension. could, therefore, be no doubt as to His being alive again. The Apostles were confident of it, and could all say, as Peter did on the day of Pentecost, 'This Jesus hath God raised up, whereof we all are witnesses.'

The next point to be referred to is

There

His command to His chosen coadjutors: The former treatise I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and to teach, until the day in which He was taken up,

after that He through the Holy Spirit had given commandment unto the Apostles whom He had chosen.'

Those Apostles, as you know, were men whom Jesus chose at the commencement of His ministry, that they might be with Him,' as St. Mark states, and that He might send them forth to preach, and to have power to heal sicknesses, and to cast out devils.' These men were privileged men. Such honour was placed upon them as was never placed on any other men, except perhaps in the case of such men as Moses, and Paul the Apostle of the Gentiles. That these men were pre-eminently distinguished above others may be proved by two circumstances: the first, their being, after a time, so heaven-inspired as to have authority and power to state infallibly what was truth in the kingdom of God, or in the Christian system, or what would be required of, and what must be attended to, by those who became its subjects. And to this special honour on the part of the Apostles our Lord referred where He said, Verily I say unto you, that ye which have followed Me in the regeneration, when the Son of man shall sit on the throne of His glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel.' And again, ‘Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.' This honour, this power, this authority, never descended to any other persons.

A second circumstance that proved the Apostles were honoured above all other men was illustrated in the case of Peter and John. Directly after the persecution of the church of Jerusalem we read that Philip the Evangelist

-not Philip the Apostle-went down to a city of Samaria, and preached Christ unto them. 'The people with one accord gave heed unto those things which Philip spake, hearing and seeing the miracles which he did; for unclean spirits, crying with a loud voice, came out of many that were possessed with them; and many taken with palsies, and that were lame, were healed; and there was great joy in that city.'

Now this good and holy man, who could work miracles, was destitute of a power which the Apostles possessed, and the circumstances of the case prove it. When the Apostles at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God-that is, had embraced the gospel-they sent unto

them Peter and John (two of their own number), who, when they were come down, prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit, for as yet He was fallen upon none of them into the name of the Lord Jesus; they were only baptized: then they were laying their hands upon them, and they were receiving the Holy Spirit, that is, receiving Him in His miraculous power and influence.

Now this power of imparting the Holy Spirit in His miraculous power was never possessed by any but Apostles; and those who received the Holy Spirit in His miraculous power at the hands of the Apostles (so as to be enabled to speak with tongues, and prophesy or magnify God) never could and never did impart the same power to others. The imparting power was solely Apostolic, and ceased with Apostles-never descended to any others. This Chrysostom (an early father) points out where he says: "Those baptised received not the Spirit, he baptizing imparted not the Spirit: he had not the power: he was of the seven, this was the gift of the twelve only."

Such then, briefly, were Apostles; but my text refers to Jesus having given them some command. What command is not stated: "The former treatise I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and to teach until the day in which He (having given command to the Apostles whom He had chosen) was taken up. The command, therefore, which Jesus laid upon them was some command which He had given them before His ascension. It might refer to some special command which He had given them; or it might refer to all the injunctions which He had laid upon them. But, as it matters not

*This is the true sense of the passage. The words, as yet He was fallen upon none of them, they were only baptized, into the name of the Lord Jesus,' contain three parts:

1 As yet He was fallen upon none of them,

2 They were only baptized,

3 Into the name of the Lord Jesus.

The first and third parts accord, the second being parenthetical, thus:

As yet He was fallen upon none of them into the name of the Lord Jesus. They were only baptized.

The baptisan which they had received at the hands of Philip was only John's water-baptism which, as it had begun amongst the Jews, was still carried on amongst them, while the gospel was confined to the circumcised.