Lord's appearing to his apostles and to Stephen after his ascension. Acts vii. 55; ix. 4."-2. "It affords a satisfactory reason why Christ has never visibly manifested himself since the apostolic age. Whatever agency of Christ there may be now in the affairs of his church, it is wholly unknown to us."-3. "This limitation of the extraordinary powers exercised by Christ, and imparted to his apostles, and confinement of them to the first ages of the church, will be a clue to lead us to the meaning of many passages in the New Testament, and will help us to avoid those many errors which men have fallen into, by applying to the case of christians in general such things as related only to the apostles, and to the miraculous gifts conferred

on them."

These remarks appear to be highly judicious and important, and are capable of very extensive application.

2. John xiv. 13, 14. "And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name 9, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it." See chap. xv. 23.

This discourse is addressed to the apostles only, and the promise is limited to them. The meaning is, that whatever in the course of their ministry they requested in the name, that is, with a view to promote the doctrine and

9 This is not to be understood as a direction to all christians to conclude all their prayers with the name of Christ, as though there was any particular charm in those words to make their prayers available. The fact seems to be, that our Lord himself possessed a voluntary power of working miracles, but the apostles only an occasional power, when prompted by some inward suggestion. And the language used upon such occasions generally corresponds with this supposition. Christ

rebukes the disorder :"-he says to the leper, "I will, be thou clean ;" and to the dead," I say unto thee, Arise." The language of the apostles is in a humbler strain: "In the name of Jesus Christ," saith Peter to the lame man, "rise up and walk :--Eneas, Jesus Christ maketh thee whole." Thus acknowledging themselves the servants of Christ, and that they performed miracles by power derived from him, and exercised in subservience to his cause.

kingdom, of Christ, if the request was proper 10, it should be granted. And upon the whole it is promised, that they should be amply qualified by him for the discharge of the apostolic office.

3. Rom. viii. 34. "who also maketh intercession," Evτvyxve, interferes, " for us11.”

This expression is applied to Christ only in this passage and in Heb. vii. 25, and probably means that Christ in his exalted state is employing his powers in some unknown manner for the benefit of the church.

4. Philipp. iv. 13. "I can do all things through Christ, who strengtheneth me."

The word Christ' is omitted in the Alexandrine and Ephrem manuscripts, and in some ancient versions. Ad. mitting it to be genuine, it may allude to the promise of Christ to be present with his apostles, and may express the apostle's confidence, that he who had invested him with the apostolic office would qualify him for it, and support him in the faithful discharge of it.

5. Heb. ii. 18. "For in that he himself suffered, being tempted, he knows how to succour those who are tempted.'

q. d. Having himself been a great sufferer, he knows how to sympathize with those who are afflicted; and in the great discoveries, and the rich and precious promises of the

10 That this limitation was always to be understood is evident both from the reason of the thing, and from the fact that Paul, who “ was not behind the very chief of the apostles," besought the Lord thrice to have his complaint, the thorn in the flesh, removed, but without success. 2 Cor. xii.

* εντυγχανειν ὑπερ τινος, pro commodo alicujus facere aliquid.” Schleusner.It is a word of very general import, and is used to express any kind of interference on account of another. Mr. Lindsey thinks that "the perpetual intercession of Christ may be the continual operation and effect of his mission and doctrine in the world" Seq. p. 88, note. See Impr. Vers. in loc.

Gospel,

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Gospel, he has made ample provision for their support and consolation.

Under this head it may be remarked that Christ sometimes authoritatively pronounces the forgiveness of sins: from which his enemies, who were his contemporaries, and many christians in modern times, have erroneously inferred that our Lord arrogates to himself divine attributes. Matt. ix. 2, "He said to the sick of the palsy, Son, be of good cheer: thy sins are forgiven thee." Hearing this, the scribes said within themselves, "Why doth he thus speak blasphemies? Who can forgive sins but God alone?" See Mark ii. 7.12 In this passage there is probably an allusion to an opinion known to have prevailed among the Jews, that every sin was visited with a specific punishment, and that bodily diseases, accidents, and the like, were punishments inflicted for particular crimes. Job's friends, from his misery infer his guilt: and the Pharisees assume that a man was born blind, either as a punishment for sins which he had committed in an antecedent state, or for the sins of his parents. John ix. 2. See also Luke xiii. 1—5. Our Lord upon every occasion peremptorily denies their principle: but in the case of the paralytic, he silences the cavils of the Jews, and supports his divine authority by healing the disease. Mark ii. 10, 11.-In the same sense he confers upon his apostles authority to forgive sins, i. e. to heal diseases, and to remove, and in some cases to inflict, calamities. John xx. 23, "Whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them, and whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained." Compare Matt. xviii. 18.13

In

12 Their principle indeed was right, but their application was evidently wrong.-Almighty Saviour, may we each of us receive from thee forgiveness of our sins!" Doddridge in loc. But our Lord's reasoning was very different from that of the pious expositor.

19 Upon this principle, that sin and disease are, according to the theory of the Jews, almost reciprocal terms, the text 1 John v. 16, may perhaps

P 2

In Luke vii. 48, our Lord pronounces, concerning the woman who washed and perfumed his feet, " Thy sins are forgiven," "thy faith hath saved thee." This woman was probably a Gentile: and, as it is said "her sins were many," it is probable that she had been remarkably addicted to idolatrous superstitions: but that by our Lord's preaching and miracles she had been convinced of his divine mission, and converted to the worship of the true God. By this symbolical action she declared her conversion, which our Lord graciously accepted; and by his kind address to her he publicly testified that she was now translated from the community of sinners, i. e. heathen idolaters, into the community of saints or holy ones, i. e. the true worshipers of God: her faith in him had obtained this privilege for her. There is no reason to believe, that, antecedently to her conversion, she had been immoral in her conduct: nor is it to be supposed that a woman of infamous character would have been admitted into our Lord's presence, or even into the Pharisee's house. It is well known to all who have attended to Scripture phraseology, that the word sinner often signifies nothing more than hea. then; and saint expresses only a professed worshiper of the true God: and that a conversion from heathenism, and admission into the community of true worshipers, is sometimes expressed by the terms repentance, and forgiveness of sins 14,' and that without any immediate regard to personal character. The Gospel dispensation is represented in the New Testament, and particularly by the apostle

perhaps admit the easiest explanation: The sin not unto death' may mean a curable disorder, for recovery from which it may not be unreasonable to pray. 'The sin unto death' may be an incurable malady; in which case prayer for recovery would be useless and improper. Compare James v. 14, 15.

14 See this fact established by Mr. Locke, in his Commentary on Rom. v. 8, note (q); and in, Dr. Taylor's Key to the Apostolic Writings, chap. vi. vii.

Paul

Paul in the Epistle to the Romans, as a scheme for obtaining remission of sins both for Jews and Gentiles; that is, for recovering them from error and superstition, to the knowledge and worship of the true God. Thus the apostle Peter speaks of Christ as exalted to be a prince and a saviour, to give repentance to Israel, and remission of sins. Acts v. 31.-It cannot be doubted that the Gospel teaches the free forgiveness of moral offences to the sincere penitent: but this could not with propriety be represented as the distinguishing peculiarity of the Christian dispensation, because the promises of forgiveness in the Old Testament are as numerous, as clear, as full, and as decisive, as any that are to be found in the New. See Exod. xxxiv. 6, 7. Psalm li. 17. Isaiah lv. 7. Micah vii. 18.

III. Jesus Christ is appointed to raise the Dead.

1. John v. 28, 29. "The hour is coming, in which all that are in their graves shall hear his voice, and shall come forth: they that have done good, to the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation."

day."

life."

2. John vi. 40. "I will raise him up at the last

3. John xi. 25. "I am the resurrection and the

4. 1 Cor. xv. 21, 22. "For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so in Christ shall all be made alive."

"The apostle in these words," says Mr. Tyrwhitt, "suggests a remarkable analogy between the two dispensations of death and life, with respect to the nature of the persons by whom they were introduced.-The foundation of which analogy seems to be no other than this; that Christ, as to his nature, was in no respect materially different from Adam;