Jesus instructs his disciples, A. M. 4037. A. D. 33. 44 And he said unto them, "These || rise from the dead the third day: A. M. 4037. are the words which I spake unto 47 And that repentance and a reyou, while I was yet with you, that all things mission of sins should be preached in his name must be fulfilled which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms concerning me. r among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. S 48 And ye are witnesses of these things. t 49 And behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you: but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high. 50 T And he led them out "as far as to Be " Matt. xvi. 21; xvii. 22; xx. 18; Mark viii. 31; Chap. ix. r Gen. xii. 3; Psa. xxii. 27; Isa. xlix. 6, 22; Jer. xxxi. 22; xviii. 31; Verse 6. - Acts xvi. 14.- -P Verse 26; Psa. || 34; Hos. ii. 23; Mic. iv. 2; Mal. i. 11.- John xv. 27; Acts xxii.; Isa. 1. 6; liii. 2, &c.; Acts xvii. 3.— 1 Dan. ix. 24;|| i. 8, 22; ii. 32; iii. 15.- t Isa. xliv. 3; Joel ii. 28; John xiv. Acts xiii. 38, 46; 1 John ii. 12. 16, 26; xv. 26; xvi.7; Acts i. 4; ii. 1, &c." Acts i. 12. || That the heralds of di Verses 44-48. And he said to them-Not, as ap-mercy was to begin now. pears, on the day of his resurrection, but on that of || vine grace should begin at Jerusalem, was appointed his ascension. These are the words which I spake both graciously and wisely; graciously, as it ento you—In private, frequently; while I was yet with couraged the greatest sinners to repent, when they you-Dwelling among you: we should better un- saw that even the murderers of Christ were not exderstand what Christ does, if we did but better cepted from mercy; and wisely, as hereby Chrisremember what he hath said; that all must be ful- || tianity was more abundantly attested, the facts being filled which is written in the law of Moses, and the || published first on the very spot where they happrophets, and the psalms-Under these three, the pened. And ye are witnesses of these things— Jews were wont to comprehend all the books of the Chosen of God, and appointed to be such; namely, Old Testament. Under the name law, the five witnesses of Christ's life, doctrine, and miracles, and books called the pentateuch were included; the especially of his death, resurrection, and ascension. chief of the historical books were joined with the Verse 49. And behold, I send the promise of my prophets, and all the rest with the psalms. The || Father--Emphatically so called, namely, the Holy prophecies, as well as types, relating to the Messiah, || Ghost, in his enlightening, renewing, and comfortare contained in one or other of these books. Then ing influences, that you may be enabled to underopened he their understanding to understand the stand, love, obey, and adorn the gospel which you Scriptures-Especially in their reference to him. preach; and in his extraordinary and miraculous He had explained many parts of them before, re- || gifts, that you may attest the truth and importance peatedly, in the course of his ministry, and since his of it to the world. But tarry ye in Jerusalem, &c. resurrection, especially to the two as they went to Emmaus. But still they understood them not, till he took off the veil from their hearts, by the illumination of his Spirit. And he said, Thus it is written, || &c.—Thus Moses and the prophets foretold that the Messiah should suffer, and rise from the dead on the third day, as Jesus had done; so that, if they had || understood the Scriptures, instead of being stumbled at these events, and finding their faith in him as the Messiah shaken by them, they would thereby have found it confirmed. And that repentance and re- Verses 50–53. And he led them out as far as Bemission of sins-The two principal doctrines of the thany-Not the town, but the district: namely, to gospel, inclusive of, or leading to, all the others; the mount of Olives, which was within the boundashould be preached-As they continually were by ries of Bethany. And he lifted up his hands—In a the apostles, both to Jews and Gentiles. And should || most solemn and devout manner; and blessed them--they not still be preached? are they not as necessary || As one that had authority, not only to desire, but to to be preached as ever? in his name—In imitation || command a blessing upon them. And while he of his example as a prophet; through his mediation || blessed-Or was blessing them, and while they beand grace as a priest; and by his authority and or- || held, (Acts i. 9,) by which it appears that this event dinance, as a king; among all the Gentile nations- took place in the day-time; he was parted from them As well as among the Jews; beginning at Jerusa--Miraculously and unexpectedly; and carried up lem-In God's visible church, where there had long || into heaven-Not suddenly, but leisurely, that they been the greatest light, and the greatest privileges might behold him departing, till a cloud received and advantages; where the greatest blessings had him out of their sight, Acts i. 9. It was much more been abused, and the greatest guilt contracted; and proper that our Lord should ascend into heaven, where, in a little time, judgment would begin, as than that he should rise from the dead, in the sight -As the divine wisdom hath seen fit that the first offers of mercy shall be made to this people, sinful as they are, and that the gospel dispensation, in its greatest glory, shall be opened here, and the fullest proof possible be given of its truth and importance, that those may be rendered inexcusable who shall continue to reject it; I charge you not to go from hence till you have received those gifts and graces with which you are to be furnished, for the perfect discharge of your ministry. Jesus ascends up into heaven. CHAPTER XXIV. The disciples return to Jerusalem. A. D. 33. 4. M. 4037. thany: and he lifted up his hands, || 52 And they worshipped him, A. M. 4037. and blessed them. and returned to Jerusalem with great 51 * And it came to pass, while he blessed || joy: them, he was parted from them, and carried up into heaven. A. D. 33. 53 And were continually in the temple, praising and blessing God. Amen. × 2 Kings ii. 11; Mark xvi. 19; John xx. 17; Acts i. 9;|| Eph. iv. 8.—y Matt. xxviii. 9, 17.——— Acts ii. 46; v. 42. of the apostles. For his resurrection was proved which he had promised to endue them, and the great when they saw him alive after his passion; but they success which he had engaged to give them therein; could not see him in heaven while they continued especially for the full proof they had now received, on earth. And they worshipped him—Not only pros- || that he was indeed the true Messiah, their Saviour, and trated themselves before him, as the word πроoкvvεw, their Lord; and that they had not been deceived in here used, often means; but, being fully satisfied of || attaching themselves to him as his disciples, but had his divine power and glory, they worshipped him in || been guided by the truth and grace of God. And the strictest sense of the word, or paid him divine were continually in the temple—That is, constantly honours, though now become invisible to them; attended there at the hours of service; praising and which it is certain they continued to do during the blessing God-As for all his other benefits, so in whole course of their ministry; confiding in him in particular for sending the Messiah for the redempall their dangers and trials; loving him and living tion and salvation of mankind, for raising him from to him; and making him, together with the Father, || the dead, after he had been unjustly and cruelly the great object of their prayers, praises, and obedi- || crucified by a cabal of wicked men; for his glorious ence. And returned to Jerusalem with great joy- || ascension into heaven in their sight, and the promise On account of the glorious discoveries which he had made them of his return; and for performing such made to them, the glorious work to which he had wonders to confirm and perfect their faith in him. called them, the extraordinary qualifications with || Amen-May he be continually praised and blessed! a 509 PREFACE TO THE GOSPEL OF SAINT JOHN. THE author of this gospel, JOHN, the apostle and evangelist, was a native of Bethsaida, in Galilee, and the son of Zebedee and Salome, as appears by comparing Matt. xxvii. 56, with Mark xv. 40, and xvi. 1. He was younger brother of James the Greater, or Elder, (there being two apostles of that name,) with whom he exercised the trade of a fisherman, on the sea of Galilee. These brothers were among the first that became Christ's disciples, being called the same day that Peter and Andrew were chosen to that honour. John is supposed to have been about twenty-five years of age when he began to follow Christ, by whom he was peculiarly loved, and honoured with his most intimate confidence, being chosen, with his brother and Peter, exclusive of the rest, to be a witness of the raising of Jairus's daughter, of Christ's transfiguration, and of his agony in the garden. And he and his brother James, on account of their zeal in their Master's service, and their fervent manner of preaching, were distinguished by the title of Boanerges, or sons of thunder. He was the only apostle who followed Christ to Calvary, and stood under the cross when he was crucified; and to him Jesus left the care of his mother, to whom, in pursuance of the trust thus reposed in him, he showed all the testimonies of the profoundest veneration and respect, granting her, after the death of her husband Joseph, all the accommodations his house afforded, John xix. 27. He saw our Lord expire on the cross, and the soldier pierce his side with a spear, John xix. 34, 45; and was one of the first of the apostles who visited the sepulchre after Christ's resurrection; and the first of them, it seems, that believed he was risen, John xx. 8. He was present when Christ showed himself to the disciples on the day he rose, and likewise eight days after, John xx. 19-29; as also when Jesus appeared as a stranger to some of them, at the sea of Tiberias; and was the first that discovered, and gave notice to the others, that the person appearing was the Lord. After Christ's ascension, he continued with the other apostles at Jerusalem, and took part with them in all their transactions, till the day of pentecost, when, with all the others, he was endowed with the extraordinary gifts of the Holy Spirit, and was thereby fully qualified for the important offices for which God designed him. He, in conjunction with Peter, with whom it appears he had contracted a very intimate friendship, had the honour of being made the instrument of working the first miracle after the day of pentecost, namely, of curing, in a moment, a man who had been lame from his birth; and the still greater honour of suffering imprisonment for Christ and his gospel, before any of the other apostles were called to give that proof of their faith in him, and attachment to his cause, Acts iii. 1-10. We find him afterward sent with Peter to Samaria, in order that through their prayers, and the laying on of their hands, the extraordinary gifts of the Holy Ghost might be conferred on some who had been converted there by the preaching of Philip the deacon, Acts viii. 5-25. And some years after this, he is mentioned by St. Paul, (Gal. ii.,) as one of the members of that council which was held at Jerusalem, to consider whether the observation of the ceremonial law should be required of the Gentile converts, Acts xv. From all which things it appears, that he was well qualified to give to the church and the world an 5–25. PREFACE TO THE GOSPEL OF ST. JOHN. authentic and accurate history of the life, doctrine, and miracles of Christ; having been an eye and ear witness of most or of all the facts which it was of importance he should relate. It is thought, that after the events referred to above, he continued in or near Judea till the time approached for the accomplishment of Christ's predictions respecting the destruction of Jerusalem and the dissolution of the Jewish state; when, according to Irenæus, Eusebius, Origen, and others, he went into Asia, that being his peculiar province by allotment, where he founded the churches of Smyrna, Thyatira, Pergamos, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea. His principal place of residence, however, was Ephesus, of which he was bishop; though Paul had planted a church there long before, and constituted Timothy the bishop thereof. Soon after he had settled affairs to his satisfaction in Asia Minor, he is supposed to have removed thence more eastward, and to have preached the gospel among the Parthians; to whom, as some imagine, his first epistle was anciently inscribed. After John had been thus employed in his apostolical function for some years, the persecution of the cruel Domitian took place, in the 15th year of his reign, A. D. 95, in which so eminent a minister of Christ as John could not fail of being a sufferer. He was, accordingly, represented to the emperor as a professed atheist, and a public subverter of the established religion of the empire; whereupon, by his imperial orders, the proconsul of Asia sent John bound to Rome, where he met with the most barbarous and inhuman treatment. He was cast into a caldron of boiling or burning oil; but was as miraculously preserved from being injured thereby, as Shadrach and his companions had been, long before, from being hurt by the flames of a fiery furnace. The stupid and obdurate Domitian, regardless of the miracle, still persecuted this holy man, and banished him into the island of Patmos, in the Archipelago, where, toward the latter end of the emperor's reign, he wrote the Apocalypse. Domitian being slain in A. D. 96, Nerva, his successor, by an especial edict recalled him, and several others, from their state of exile; in consequence of which he returned to Ephesus, being then about ninety years of age. Here, it is said, he wrote his gospel, but whether before he was sent into exile, or after his return from it, is not quite certain. The general current of ancient writers, however, assure us, that he wrote it at an advanced time of life; though some learned moderns are of a different opinion, supposing it was written before the destruction of Jerusalem. "The question," as Mr. Scott observes, "is perhaps rather a matter of curiosity than importance. Yet certainly several passages become far more interesting, by supposing that it was written long after the destruction of Jerusalem, and the martyrdom of the other apostles. This evangelist alone mentions Peter as the apostle who smote the high-priest's servant, and Malchus as the name of that servant. Now it is obvious to conclude, that he disclosed what the others had purposely concealed; because Peter was, at the time when he wrote, out of the reach of all his enemies. He alone records the resurrection of Lazarus; a miracle so stupendous and notorious, that one can hardly account for the other evangelists passing it over in silence, unless by supposing that, inasmuch as the Jews had consulted to put Lazarus also, as well as Christ, to death, the publicly recording of it by the evangelists, while the Jewish priests and rulers possessed authority, might needlessly have exasperated them, and exposed Lazarus and his sisters to much hatred, and even to imminent danger; and that the first Christians, knowing this, judged it proper in their public writings to observe a profound silence on this subject, till Jerusalem was destroyed, and Lazarus deceased, when the whole was circumstantially related. The other evangelists record our Lord's predictions concerning the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple, and the dispersion of the Jews; but this writer is entirely silent in respect of them. Nor can a more satisfac tory account of this be given, than by supposing that many of the predicted events had by that time received their accomplishment." In addition to these arguments, which certainly are of considerable weight, some have observed that it is probable St. John could not have interpreted the words of Christ, which he has recorded chap. xxi. 18: "Thou shalt stretch forth thy hands, and another shall gird PREFACE TO THE GOSPEL OF ST. JOHN. thee," concerning the manner of St. Peter's death, if his gospel had been written before the crucifixion of that apostle; because, before that time, the words were ambiguous. Now this limits the writing of it to the year 69, a year expressly specified by an ancient writer. Others give it a much later date, some even so late as A. D. 97. But at what time soever it was written, it is probable that it was undertaken in consequence of the entreaties of the Christian people and pastors of Ephesus, and other parts of Asia Minor, where John had his residence in the latter part of his life; and if so, Dr. Campbell thinks it must have been toward the close of the first century when it first appeared in the church. It was, doubtless, published before the beginning of the second; for we find evident references to it, though without naming the author, in some epistles of Ignatius, written about that time, the authenticity of which is strenuously maintained by Bishop Pearson, and other critics of name. There are also in Justin Martyr both references to this gospel, and quotations from it, though without naming the author. Tatian used it, along with the others, in composing the Diatessaron. It is scarcely necessary to mention the notice. that is taken of it in the epistle of the churches of Vienne and Lyons, or by Irenæus, who names all the evangelists, specifying something peculiar to every one of them whereby he may be distinguished from the rest. To these may be added, Athenagoras, Theophilus of Antioch, Clement of Alexandria, Tertullian, and the whole current of succeeding ecclesiastical writers. to If we may believe Irenæus, (Advers. Hæres., lib. iii. cap. 11,) this gospel was written with a view extirpate the errors sown in the minds of men by Cerinthus, and, some time before, by those called Nicolaitans ;" in opposition to which errors, "he acquaints us, that there is one God, who made all things by his Word; and not, as they say, one who is the Creator of the world, and another who is the Father of the Lord; one the Son of the Creator, and another the Christ from the supercelestial abodes, who descended upon Jesus the Son of the Creator, but remained impassible, and afterward flew back into his own pleroma or fulness." Again: "This disciple, therefore, willing at once to cut off these errors, and establish a rule of truth in the church, declares, that there is one God Almighty, who by his Word made all things, visible and invisible; and that by the same Word, by which God finished the work of creation, he bestowed salvation upon men, who inhabit the creation. With this doctrine he ushers in his gospel, 'In the beginning was the Word,'" &c. "This testimony," says Dr. Campbell," is of great antiquity, having been given in less than a century after the publication of the gospel." Clement of Alexandria, who wrote not long after Irenæus, has, as we learn from Eusebius, (lib. iii. cap. 24,) added some particulars, as what, in his opinion, together with the entreaties of the Asiatic churches, contributed not a little to induce John to compose his gospel The first he mentions is, that the evangelists who had preceded him, had taken little notice of our Lord's teaching and actions, soon after the commencement of his ministry, and before the imprison ment of John the Baptist. One consideration, therefore, which induced him, though late, to publish a gospel, was, to supply what seemed to have been omitted by those who had gone before him. For this reason he avoided, as much as possible, recurring to those passages of our Lord's history of which the preceding evangelists had given an account. There was no occasion, therefore, for him to give the genealogy of our Saviour's flesh, as the historian expresses it, which had been done by Matthew and Luke before him. The same Eusebius says in another place, (lib. vi. cap. 14,) quoting Clement, "John, who is the last of the evangelists, having seen that in the three former gospels corporeal things had been explained, and being urged by his acquaintance, and inspired of God, composed a spiritual gospel." Thus, it appears to have been a very early tradition in the church, that this gospel was composed, not only to supply what had not been fully communicated in the former gospels, but also to serve for refuting the errors of Cerinthus and the Gnostics. "It deserves our particular attention, that the whole strain of the writing [of this gospel] shows it |