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11. Which alfo faid,

Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heavent this fame Jesus which is taken up from you into heaven, shall fo come in like manner, as ye have seen him go into heaven.

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ing Apparel, and spoke to them A. D. 33. in this chearful and comfortable manner. " It is vain, O ye " Disciples of Jesus, to look any " longer after him, whom ye " can now no longer fee. But " be not difcouraged at his Departure; observe the Rules he " has given you; wait his Pro"mise; and courageoufly dif" charge your Duty; and be affured, That, to your " eternal Honour and Happiness, you shall one Day " see this fame Jesus, your Master and Saviour, come " again in the fame Glory and Majesty, to the so" lemn and final Judgment of all the World.

12. Thên rettirned

they to Jerufalem, from the mount call. ed Olivet, which is from Jerufalem a fabbath-days journey.

12. These Transactions of
Christ's Ascension were done at
Bethany, on a Part of the Mount
of Olives, (as I related Luke xxiv.
50.) from whence the Disciples
now returned to Jerufalem, be-
eight Furlongs diftant, and there

ing about seven or
waited, according to his Order, for the Promise he
had made them.

13. And when they

were come in, they went up into an upper room, where a

bode both Peter, and

James, and John, and
Andrew, Philip, and
Thomas, Bartholo-

mew, and Matthew,

James the fon of Al

pheus, and Simon Ze

lotes, and Judas the

brother of James.

14. These all con

tinued with one ac

13 & 14. During their Stay in which Place, they conftantly attended the stated Worship of God in the Temple; and at other set Times met together for their more private Devotions, in an upper convenient and private Apartment, where they were used to assemble for that purpose along with the Women that followed Jesus, and with Mary the Mo

ther of Jesus, and his other Re

lations and Disciples.

cord in prayer and supplication with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brethren.

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A D. 33.

15. AND * in those days Peter ftood up in the midst of the disciples, and faid, (the number of the names together were about an hundred and

twenty)

15. And * now being to give an Account of several Transactions of these Apostles and first Disciples of Jesus Chrift, after his Afcenfion into Heaven, I. shall begin with that of their Choice of an Apostle in the room of Judas, which was done

+ Ver. 13, at one of their Affemblies † before mentioned, confifting of about Sixscore, St. Peter moving them to it, by speaking to them in the following manner.

14.

16. Men and bre

thren, this Scripture
muft needs have been
fulfilled, which the
holy Ghost by the

mouth of David spake
I before concerning
Judas, which was a
guide to them that
took Jesus.

17. For he was
numbered with us,
and had obtained part
of this ministry.

16. My Fellow Apostles and Fellow Disciples, you well know those Prophetick Expreffions of David, (Pfal. xli. 9. lxix. 25. cix. 8.) which are most eminently fulfilled in the Traitor Judas, both as to his Office, his Crime, and his Punishment.

17. For as in the first of those Passages, it was laid of Achitophel, Mine own familiar Friend in whom I trusted, which did eat of

my Bread, hath lift up bis Heels against me; so was Judas chosen into the nearest Place of Trust by our Lord, and was our Fellow Apostle; but betrayed him for a Sum of Money.

18. Now this Man purchased a field with the reward of iniqui

ty,

18 & 19. Of which he had no other Advantage, but to return it back to them that gave it him,

and

* Ver. 15. At this Verse I take the History of the Ats properly to begin, the foregoing Part of the Chapter being either a Recapitulation of, or Addition to his Gospel History.

† Ver. 16. Note, The true rendring of this Verse seems plainly to be this, 'Tis fit that this Scripture should be fulfilled concerning Judas - Which the Holy Ghost by the Mouth of David spake before (viz. concerning other Persons, and now perfectly applicable to Judas his Cafe.)

ty, and falling headlong, he burst asunder in the midst, and all his bowels gushed

out.

19. And it was known unto all the

dwellers at Jerufa

lem; infomuch as

that field is called in their proper tongue, + Aceldama, that is to say, The field of blood.

20. For it is writ

ten in the book of Pfalms, Let his habitation be defolate,

and let no man dwell therein : and his bishoprick let another take.

21. Wherefore of these men which have companied with us,

all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us. directing it in such

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and in the utmost Horror and A. D. 33.
Distraction of a guilty Mind, to
go and hang himself, and falling
down from the Place * he did it
in, his Body broke, and his Bow-
els gushed out. Which wicked
Fact, and exemplary Fate of Ju-
das, is so notoriously known to
all the Inhabitants of Jerufalem,
that the Field purchased by the
Chief Priests with that Money,
is to this Day, vulgarly called,
The Field of Blood. +

20. Thus the violent and un-
natural End of this Man is a per-
fect and dreadful Completion of
the fecond Expreffion of the Pfal-
mist. Let his Habitation be defo-
late, and let no Man dwell in his
Tents. The last is, and his Office
let another take.

21 & 22. Which it is plainly our Duty now to compleat, by chusing a fit Person in his Place, our Lord designing the Number to be Twelve, by his own first Choice, and the Holy Ghost thus plain Words. But he must be one

B2

that

* The Sense of the Word απήγξατο (be banged himself) in St. Matthew, being not absolutely determined by Interpreters, nor the manner of Judas his falling down and bursting, agreed upon, I have express'd it in the Paraphrafe, with as little Addition to the Text as I could. Only I ob. serve, That our Translation of ἀπήγξαλο, more exactly anfwers to the Death of Achitophel, 2 Sam. xvii. 23. whom the best Interpreters allow to be the Type of Judas.

+ In the Syriack חקלדמא )Chakeldama) which was the Language of Judea at that Time, with a very little Mixture with the Chaldean. That this Syro chaldaic was the Vulgar Language of Palestine in our Saviour's Time, and of the Affinity between those two Tongues, the Reader may fee Father SIMON's Crit. Hift. N. Test. p. 55, 56.

A. D. 33.

22. Beginning from

the baptifm* of John,
unto that same day
that he was taken up
from us, must one be

ordain'd to be a wit-
ness with us of his

that constantly attended upon the Person, and knows all the Discourses and Transactions of Christ, from the very first Steps that John the Baptift made toward his Religion, by preparing Men for it by Repentance, to the very Day of his Afcenfion : That so he may be able to concur with us, in exactly teaching the fame Doctrines, and giving a clear Teftimony to the same Facts, especially that of Chrift's Resurrection, as the chief and greatest Argument both to Jews and Gentiles.

refurrection.

23. And they appointed two, Joseph called Barsabas, who was surnamed Justus,

and Matthias.

24. And they prayed, and faid, Thou Lord, which knowest the hearts of all men, shew whether of these two thou hast chosen:

25. That he may

take part of this nistry and apostleship,
from which Judas by
tranfgreffion fell, that
he might go † to his
own place.

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24 & 25. And because they had
not as yet the particular Gui-
dance and Direction of the Holy
Ghoft for fuch Purposes, they
therefore referred their Choice
to God by folemn and earnest
Prayer, beseeching him as the

infallible Searcher of the Hearts,
Temper, and Qualifications of
all Men, to point out to them,
which of the two was the Perfon
most proper and worthy, for the
Discharge of fo great and weighty
an Office, which Judas had lost by so notorious a
Tranfgreffion, and was gone † to receive the Punish-
ment due to fuch a Crime.
26. And

* Either John's baptizing his own Disciples, or else his baptizing of Jesus, which latter Grotius takes to be the proper Beginning of the Evangelical State and History. But the Phrafe being the same here, as in Mat. xxi. 25. rather seems to denote the former; and St. Luke having been so particular in his Account of John Baptist his Birth, Preaching, and Baptism, I have chosen to express it accordingly in this Place. † Ἐις τόπον τὸν ἴδιον, emphatically to his proper Place, a Place more fit for him than the Apostleship.

: !

26. And they gave forth their lots; and the lot fell upon Matthias, and he was • numbered with the eleven apostles.

26. And the particular manner they requested of God to affift and direct their Choice in, was by Lot, a Method he had been wont * to use among his People in his Designation of Things and Persons to several Uses and Offices; which Lot falling upon Matthias, he was chofen into the Vacancy, and made the twelfth Apostle.

* See Levit. xvi. Numb. xxv. 55. Jofh. xiii. 2, 6. Judg. xx. 9. 1 Chron. xxiv. 5. Prov. xvi. 33.

CHAP. II.
The CONTENTS.

The Defcent of the Holy Ghost on the Apostles. The
Manner and Circumstances of it. The Amazement it
put them into. The Calumny raised upon it by the Jews.
St. Peter's Vindication of it. The Effect which his Dif-
course had upon many of them. Three Thousand baptized.

τ.

AND

when the

of Pente

cost was fully + come,
they were all with

one

place.

accord in one

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HE Day was now come A. D. 33. in which Jesus was to

fulfil the great Promise of the Holy Ghost to his Disciples; the Day of Pentecoft, so call'd from its being the fiftieth Day after the Passover + (and the very Day of the Year on which the Law was given by God, from Mount Sinai, with so much Glory and Terror;) and he did it accordingly, at an Afsembly of the whole hundred and twenty for the Worship of God, and the Celebration of this great Feast of Weeks, in the following manner.

B 3

2 & 3.

+ The Jews reckon their Days from Sun-set to Sun-fet, and so the Morning, or Time toward Noon was the Middle, or rather concluding Part of each Day; now this Meeting of the Disciples being about nine in the Forenoon, the Day was faid to be fully come; or, as fome think, it was fully come, when the Day-light perfectly appear'd.

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