us one continued history from the commencement of the Christian era down to A.D. 63 or 64. He records in his testimony concerning Jesus, and in his Acts of the Apostles, all the grand and important events and transactions connected with the establishment of the Christian religion in Asia, Africa, and Europe. This book is the grand link which connects the previous histories with the apostolic epistles, and constitutes a key to the right interpretation of them, without which they would have been, in many particulars, unintelligible. An accurate acquaintance with the history of the people which composed most of the congregations to which the Apostles addressed letters, with the time and circumstances of their conversion, and with their customs and questions found in this book, greatly facilitates our proficiency in the knowledge of those letters which explain the meaning and bearings of that one glorious fact on which the Christian superstructure is reared.

From it alone we learn by what means that great moral and religious revolution was accomplised in the world, which eventuated in the destruction of polytheism and idolatry in the best portions of the world; which desolated so many Pagan temples and caused millions of altars to moulder down to dust, notwithstanding the wisdom and learning of philosophers, the sword of the civil magistrate, and the superstition of the common people, were allied in maintaining them, and in suppressing this "wicked and odious heresy," as the Romans call it.

From it we also learn what true Christianity is, and how far the modern exhibitions of it have degenerated from the ancient and apostolic order of things; we discover what was the spirit and temper of the first Christians, and the character and design of their religious meetings. In a word, as Dr. Adam Clarke observes, "in the book of the Acts we

see how the church of Christ was formed and settled. The Apostles simply proclaim the truth of God relative to the passion, death, resurrection, and ascension of Christ; and God accompanies their testimony with the demonstrations of the Spirit. What was the consequence? Thousands acknowledge the truth, embrace Christianity, and openly profess it at the most imminent risk of their lives. The change is not a change of merely one religious sentiment or mode of worship for another, but a change of tempers, passions, prospects and moral conduct. All before was earthly, or animal, or devilish, or all these together: but now all is holy, spiritual, and divine—the heavenly influence becomes extended, and nations are born unto God. And how was all this brought about? Not by might nor power; not by the sword, nor by secular authority; not through worldly motives and prospects; not by pious frauds or cunning craftiness; not by the force of persuasive eloquence: in a word, by nothing but the sole influence of truth itself, attested to the heart by the power of the Holy Spirit. Wherever religious frauds and secular influence have been used to found or support a church, professing itself to be Christian, there we may rest assured, is the fullest evidence that that church is wholly anti-Christian: and where such a church, possessing secular power, has endeavoured to support itself by persecution, and persecution unto privation of goods, of liberty, and of life, it not only shows itself to be anti-Christian, but also diabolic. The religion of Christ stands in no need of either human cunning or power. It is the religion of God, and is to be propagated by his power: this the book of the Acts fully shows; and in it we find the true model, after which every church should be builded. As far as any church can show that it has followed this model, so far it is holy and apostolic. And when

A. C.

ACTS OF APOSTLES.

PREFACE.

LUKE'S RECAPITULATION OF THE CLOSE OE HIS FORMER NARRATIVE.

1 THE former narrative I composed, O Theophilus, concerning all things 2 which Jesus began both to do and to teach, even to the day in which he was taken up, after he had, by the Holy Spirit, given charge to the Apostles whom he had chosen. 3 To whom also, he presented himself alive, after his sufferings, by many infallible proofs; being seen by them forty days, and speaking of the things concerning the kingdom

NOTES.

1. THEOPHILUS, saluted "Most Excel lent" in the " former narrative" of Jesus Christ, by this historian, was a nobleman of rank, converted to the Christian faith. The epithet kratiste, applied to his name, indicates this. The same word is twice used by Paul, applied to the governors Felix and Festus.

Claudius Lysias, in addressing Felix (Acts xxiii. 26,) uses the same title. It was a title given to persons in authority, given more to the office than the officer; for this "most noble Felix" had once been a slave. He was the freedman of the emperor Claudius. Tacitus, calling him Antonius Felix, says he governed with the insolence of a quondam slave, but with the authority of a king.

"The former treatise"-we prefer narrative. The original authorizes this: for logos is so used by Greek authors. The several parts of the histories of Herodotus, Herodion, and others are called logoi, narratives. Wetstein, Kype, and others, adduce instances of this sort from other Greek historians.

2. It was by the Holy Spirit that the Lord gave those orders to the Apostles. He had not yet himself received the Holy Spirit as the dispenser of it; but he promised it to them so soon as he should receive the dispensation of it. Acts ii. 33.

3. Infallible proofs-tekmerion differs from

4 of God. And having assembled them together, he charged them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which, said he, you have heard 5 from me. For John, indeed, immersed in water, but you shall be immersed in the Holy Spirit, within

semeion-the first having a physical, the second a moral signification. Aristotle, in his Rhetoric, explains tekmerion by semeion anagkara, necessary or important proofs or signs. And so Quintillian, Or. 5, 9. They are not, however, always strictly distinguished.

The infallible proofs here alluded to were, his frequent interviews with the Apostles and his submitting his person to be handled, his others, his eating and drinking with them, assignations to meet with them in Galilee, his being seen of about five hundred brethren at one time, and his continuance with his followers during forty days, speaking of the affairs of the kingdom of God now being set up.

4. "The promise of the Father." This which he spake to them, John xv. xvi. and was the gift of the Holy Spirit, concerning on other occasions, called a 66 power from on high," Luke xxiv. 49. This was not an ordinary or private blessing, but an extraordinary one.

All

5. Itis called a baptism of the Holy Spirit. The episcopal Bloomfield, of Cambridge, in his CRITICAL DIGEST, says, baptizein is figuratively used for plentifully imbue with. the special gifts and influence of the Holy Spirit hitherto vouchsafed to the Apostles, did not, it seems, amount to a baptism by, or in, the Spirit.

They were to wait in Jerusalem for this

"baptism of the Spirit" for this " power

from on high." The Saviour was dishonored there, publicly insulted, condemned, and crucified there. The Apostles were confounded, abashed, and humbled there. There, then, must the Lord be glorified first, and the Apostles strengthened. And as a great concourse witnessed the one, a great concourse must witness the other. Jerusalem must be the

radiating centre of the Christian Institution. The public documents and the most critical judges were there. The strongest enemies were there. There only could the gospel be subjected to a proper ordeal. Thence only could it emanate with power. Jerusalem, and not Rome, nor Constantinople, must be the seat of the mother church. Isa. ii. 2; Micah iv. 2.

my

6 a few days. They, therefore, being assembled together, asked him, saying, Lord, wilt thou, at this time restore the kingdom to Israel? 7 But he said to them, It is not for you to know the times or seasons which the Father has reserved to 8 himself. But you shall receive power by the Holy Spirit coming upon you, and shall be witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and even to the re9 motest parts of the earth. And, having said these things, while they beheld, he was lifted up, and a cloud received him out of their sight. 10 And while they were steadfastly looking up to heaven, as he ascended, behold two men in white 11 raiment, who also said, Galileans, why do you stand gazing up to heaven? This Jesus, who is taken up from you into heaven, shall also come in the same manner as you have seen him going to 12 heaven. Then they returned to

6. The restoration of the Jewish kingdom to primeval power and glory, seems not only to have possessed the Jewish nation, but as yet even the disciples themselves. How unfit, then, to preach the gospel to all the world!

7. "Prophetic times and seasons" are, as a general rule, confined to the bosom of the Father. He does not often communicate them

even to his best friends.

8. The Apostles are commissioned to be witnesses for the Lord-witnesses of his death, resurrection, and ascension. Their line of march is prescribed-Beginning at Jerusalem, proceeding through Judea, thence to Samaria, the ancient capital of the kings of Israel, and thence to the most distant parts of the earth. 12.

into

From Mount Olivet, which is from Jerusalem a Sabbath day's journey." In his testimony concerning Jesus of Nazareth, Luke affirms, chap. xxiv. 50, that Jesus led them out to Bethany, and was thence carried up heaven. Here it would appear he ascended from Mount Olivet. But if he ascended from the village of Bethany, another difficulty occurs. That was two Sabbath day's journeys from Jerusalem, being fifteen furlongs distant. Again, the villages of Bethany and Bethpage are mentioned as being almost together, or equally near to Jerusalem, Matt. xxi. 1; Mark xi. 1. The apparent incongruities are easily explained and reconciled. According to Josephus, Bethany was fifteen furlongs from

Jerusalem, from the Mount called
Olivet, which is from Jerusalem a
Sabbath day's journey.

13 Now when they were come into the city, they went up into an upper room, where abode both Peter, and James, and John, and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholemew and Matthew, James, son of Alpheus, and Simon, the Zealot, and Judas brother of James. 14 These all unanimously persevered in prayer and supplication, with the women, and with Mary, the

Jerusalem; Mount Olivet was but five furlongs salem the road passed over Mount Olivet, distant. On the way from Jericho to Jerualmost equi-distant from Bethany and Bethpage. Bethpage was next to Jerusalem. But the lands on Mount Olivet were partitioned into districts, and a portion of the Mount on

the east section was called the district of Bethany. Now it was on the eastern side of that Mount, some seven and a half furlongs distant from Bethany and from Jerusalem, whence our Lord ascended. So that Mount Olivet

and the district of Bethany, distant from Jerusalem one Sabbath day's journey, being but two names for the same spot, were equally the theatre of this transcendently sublime and interesting ev nt. It may be added that Bethpage, properly interpreted, means the house or district of figs-Bethany, the house of song-and Olivet, the region of olives.

"With prayer and supplication." Griesbach rejects from the Greek text, we think on insufficient grounds, the works kaith dehsei, idiom is not uncommon; and the mere with prayer and supplication. This pleonastic omission of this clause in the Syriac, Coptic, Ethiopic, Armenian, and Vulgate versions, with a few old ecclesiastic fathers, is not sufficient authority for its repudiation.

13. Luke, as in duty bound, gives us a list of the Apostles after the defection of Judas Iscariot. The arrangement of the names in this last catalogue of the whole apostolic college differs in some respects from those catalogues given in the Testimony of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and in the book of Apostolic Acts.

The whole dramatis persona of the Christian Institution, as reported in its five histor:cal books, are

1. John the Harbinger.
2. Jesus the Messiah.
3. Twelve Apostles.
4. Seventy Heralds.

5. Evangelists, Bishops, and Deacons. The following tabular view of the the order in which these names are reported in the four

On this table observe

1. But four of the twelve always retain the same rank.

2. Peter is always first, Judas is always last, Philip is always fifth, and James, the eldest son of Alpheus, is always ninth.

3. Alpheus and Cleopas or Clopas, married to Mary the sister of the mother of Jesus, are but two names for the same person.

4. James, son of Alpheus, is sometimes called James the Less, in contrast with James the brother of John, who was senior. James the elder was beheaded by Herod Agrippa. Acts xii.

5. Thaddeus, Lebbeus, and Judas, brother of James, are three names for the same Apostle. 6. Simon the Cananite, and Simon the Zealot, are also two names for the same person. Kana in Hebrew signifies zealous. the third son of Alpheus, and the brother of Jude, author of the short epistle which bears his name.

He was

7. Thomas and Dydimus are but two names indicative of a twin. Thomas in Hebrew, and Dydimus in Greek, and twin in English, are but three names for the person. Nathaniel having been the son of Talmai, is, we presume, the same as Bartholomew. Bartholomai, or Bartholomew, indicating simply the son of Tholomew.

None of the four ranks seem to be governed

SECTION I.

THE APPOINTMENT OF AN APOSTLE IN THE ROOM OF JUDAS.

15 AND in these days, Peter, rising up in the midst of the disciples, (now the number of persons assembled was about a hundred 16 and twenty,) said, Brethren, it was necessary this scripture should be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit formerly spoke, by the mouth of David, with respect to Judas, who became the guide of those who 17 apprehended Jesus; for he was numbered with us, and had obtained a part of this ministry: 18 (Now this man, therefore purchased a field with the reward of iniquity, and falling down on his face, he burst asunder in the middle, and all his bowels gushed out: 19 and it was known to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so that the field is called, in their language, Aceldama that is, the Field of 20 Blood.) For it is written in the book of Psalms, "Let his habitation be desolate, and let no man dwell in it" and, "Let another 21 take his office." It is necessary,

therefore, that one of the men who

by mere seniority of birth or seniority of calling. Merit of some sort, or reputation, seems to have given them rank. Peter. James, and John were pillars; Philip stood high, and all bear witness to the standing of James the Less, and to Judas, authors of the epistles that bear their names.

18. "Purchased a field." Persons are sometimes said to do that which they became the occasion of being done. This, it is probable, was the case of Judas as respects the purchase of a public burying ground for the interment of strangers.

Psalms lxix. 28, and cix. 8, are supposed to be here alluded to. Judas' charge was not that of a bishopric, as the common version intimates. An office, indeed, he had; but it was neither that of a diocesan, nor that of a metropolitan in the usual sense.

"In their proper tongue"- -common version-rather in their language; for the Hebrew tongue had long ceased to be spoken in Judea. The language of those times was the Chaldaio-Syriac.

have continued with us all the time the Lord Jesus was conver22 sant among us, commencing from his immersion by John, until the day of his ascension, should be constituted a witness with us, of 23 his resurrection. And they set up two men, Joseph, called Barsabas, who was surnamed Justus, and 24 Matthias. And they prayed, saying-Thou, Lord, who knowest 25 the hearts of all, show which of these two thou hast chosen, that he may take part of the ministry and apostleship, from which Judas fell by transgression, that he might

22. "Must one be ordained" -common version. There is no word for ordained in the original. It is genestlai, be made or constituted.

"From the baptism of John until his ascension." The period here defined is the full period of the personal ministry of our Lord while on earth. Not from his baptism to his death, nor from his baptism to his resurrection; but from his baptism to his ascension. Consequently the period embraced in this chapter, or the interval from his resurrection to his ascension, is deemed worthy of the fullest attestation by the same number of divinely authorized witnesses who attest his public ministry. But their whole testimony is to terminate on one point-viz. the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. This proved, all is proved. The mode of election in this case was quite popular. The whole congregation of one hundred and twenty persons acted in concert on the proposition. They selected or nominated two persons by their own suffrage, some way expressed. They then probably represented them by two pebbles, as the ancient custom was, put into an urn, on which either the name or some sign was inscribed. Some person being appointed, after prayer drew out one of these calculi, and from it calculated the divine will; for, indeed, the word calculate is derived from calculus, a pebble, by which doubtful matters were anciently decided. The lot fell on Matthias, and he was added to the eleven.

The phrase that Judas "should go to his own place" has been by partizans subjected to a severe criticism. It cannot, indeed, without a very perverse ingenuity, be rendered ambiguous. Every one's " own place," or "own reward," is that place or reward to which his own character or his own works may have entitled him. The place for traitors was Judas' own place. He was a hypocrite, a traitor, and a thief. His own place was that prepared for

26 go to his own place. And they cast lots, and the lot fell upon Matthias, and he was numbered with the eleven Apostles.

such characters: a strong argument in proof that wicked men after death go to their own place. And certainly heaven is not their own place, nor is the grave. The latter is a common receptacle for all men, and the former is the place of none but the righteous. Therefore, their own place is neither heaven nor the

grave.

To the Pope of Rome it is, or ought to be, a startling fact, that Judas, the traitor, is the only Apostle that ever had, by divine authority, a successor. When James, the Apostle next to Peter, was beheaded, no successor was appointed. The use of apostolic succession continued

only till the first church was founded in Jerusalem. The one hundred and twenty Cardinals who elected him, although the "Holy Virgin” was one of them, did not make sex, age, or office a qualification of suffrage in electing a successor to Judas Iscariot. And as for Peter, who stands foremost in this catalogue, because of his zeal and promptitude of action, being a man of family, and the person to whom the he was not qualified to have the supremacy of Lord gave the keys of the kingdom of heaven, a bachelor Pope; for which cause neither he, nor James, nor any other save Judas, had a

successor.

PRACTICAL THOUGHTS AND
REFLECTIONS.

The interval from the resurrection of

the Messiah to the descent of the Holy Spirit, embraced in the first section of this narrative, is an interval of great significance and importance to the Christian abounds with momentous church. This period of sacred history events and transactions. It is but the history of seven weeks, but seven such weeks as The Messiah died, was buried, rose again, these never were, nor ever will be again. ascended into heaven, and the Holy Spirit descended from heaven, inspired, animated, and consoled the faithful few, while it filled with anguish and dismay the enemies of the Lord. three most sublime events inscribed upon the rolls of time, occur within fifty days. The resurrection of the Lord his personal ascent to heaven, and the personal descent from heaven to earth of the Holy Spirit: the resurrection of the Lord is the beginning, and the descent of the Holy Spirit the ending, of a most eventful period of time. During this sabbatical week of weeks, there was not one divinely licensed public herald of religion in the world. Moses and the prophets were dead: the apos

Indeed, the