shipping him in a body, he clears up their view of his coming as the object of their worship; not by forbidding the adoration, (which indeed he had only forbidden to her, it would seem, because it was a sign of error, and not as in itself improper,) but by explaining to them how he was henceforth to be worshipped. He confirms their view, that he was to be their Lord and God for ever; but reminds them, by the prescribed form of initiation into his Church, that, as he had come from the Father, and was the Son, so there was yet a third Person-the Holy Spirit—a third manifestation of that same God-by whom he was to come and rule his Church. "All power

ye,

is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost; and, lo, I am with you alway even unto the end of the world."

CHRIST SEEN OF MORE THAN FIVE HUNDRED

BRETHREN AT ONCE.

(Ninth Appearance.)

1 Cor. xv. 6.

After that, he was seen of above five hundred brethren at

once; of whom the greater part remain unto this present, but some are fallen asleep.

If this appearance be a different one from that made on the mountain in Galilee, it is the ninth on record. That it is the same however will appear probable from the numbers assembled, which at that early period-before the descent of the Holy Ghost-may be best accounted for by some previously arranged plan of meeting for an important object; such as was the appointment to meet the Lord on this mountain of Galilee. The eleven are indeed especially named as present at that meeting, because to them the commission to preach and baptize was immediately given. But it seems scarcely possible, that, known as the summons was so long before, the eleven only should have been present; unless all others were prohibited, and of this there is no notice. Perhaps indeed our Lord's purpose, in delaying the formal hour of meeting, might have been, that the appointment should be generally known to his disciples, and that those of them who had fled and dispersed beyond Judæa on his crucifixion, might have time and opportunity to hear of his intended interview with the eleven, and be present as assistant witnesses. For the same reason a mountain in Galilee, rather than

any part of Judæa, might have been the place appointed for the meeting. Had any spot in Judæa been talked of as the place, the Jews might possibly have heard of it, and have taken measures to interrupt the meeting. At all events, their suspicions would have been awakened, and their inquiries put on the alert, by the influx of more than five hundred obnoxious persons towards any given point in Judæa; although the movements of the eleven could hardly (as was in fact proved at the ascension) excite any alarm.

If it be however a different appearance, it is only noticed by St. Paul; who states, that most of those present on the occasion were living witnesses at the time of his writing. In either view, the purpose for which Christ manifested himself to so large a body of his disciples, besides his appointed witnesses, was probably this. In the first propagation of the Gospel, almost all the original disciples must have been needed as preachers of the word-so wide was the field of conversion, which was suddenly thrown open to the Church. So spoke the Spirit of God by the Psalmist, when he exclaimed with reference to that extraordinary

period, The Lord gave the word: great was the company of those that published it "." Now for those so employed, no accidental qualification could have been more desirable, than the circumstance of having seen Christ after his resurrection; since on this turned the whole weight of their Gospel report. Besides which, by thus bringing together more than five hundred of his disciples before his ascension, our Lord not only furnished them with a very valuable qualification for the ministry; but set them on communicating as a body. To this it may no doubt be attributed, that they were found in so large numbers on the day of Pentecost, ready for the extraordinary effusion of the Holy Ghost. Prepared at once by the privilege of being eye-witnesses of the resurrection, and also by the eminent endowments, which seem to have been bestowed by the manifestation on that day, they constituted a class of disciples qualified, beyond all the future ordinary converts, for immediate appointments; and out of these, no doubt, went forth the first promulgators of the faith, Matthias and Barnabas, Stephen and Philip, and others named and unnamed in the inspired annals.

n Psalm lxviii. 11.

CHRIST'S APPEARANCE TO JAMES (tenth appearance) AND TO PETER (third appearance).

1 Cor. xv. 5, 7.

And that he was seen of Cephas, then of the twelve.After that, he was seen of James; then of all the apostles.

Of Christ's appearance to St. Peter, some notice was taken among the earlier manifestations to which it belongs. Besides St. John's notice of it, St. Paul also enumerates it in his list, and adds a separate interview with one other individual apostle not noticed in the histories, St. James. Why these two apostles should have been selected for what would seem a mark of favour and honour, cannot certainly be determined. That St. James the Less was afterwards, according to uninspired but very authentic accounts, bishop of Jerusalem, the mother Church, and the scene of our Lord's own ministry; whilst St. Peter was the first preacher, both to the Jews and to the devout Gentiles-the foundation-stone of the Church-are circumstances in the history of these two apostles, which may seem to make such a distinction suitable. They might have