that were bruised," which can mean nothing but deliverance from the curse of death, brought on mankind when the serpent bruised Adam's heel. As these truths are wholly discovered by revelation, they could not be left to make their way in the world, like the dogmas of philosophy, by the discussions of human reason; for, by the philosophers of that age, a resurrection from the dead was deemed impossible. Accordingly both our Lord and his forerunner declared that a kingdom was at handeven the kingdom of heaven or of God, in which all obstacles to their reception were to be taken away; which should comprehend the Gentiles here called the blind", and in which" all flesh should see the "salvation of God." That by the kingdom of Heaven was meant the church of Christ, will be seen more clearly in the sequel. At present it is sufficient to observe that, though at hand, it was not yet come. Our Saviour, however, began to lay the foundation of it immediately after his baptism, by preaching the Gospel, by inviting all the Jews to become his disciples, and by working miracles to prove the truth of his mission. By these means he attracted many disciples, whom he baptized, not, as John had done, in the name of "one to come after him," but probably in general terms unto faith in the Messiah, declaring that without his baptism no man should enter into the kingdom of God or the church. Of these disciples, after continuing all night in prayer to God, "he chose twelve, that they should be with "him, and that he might send them forth to preach, "whom he named apostles ";" and some time afterwards "he appointed other seventy also, and sent w That such is the meaning of the word blind, in this passage of St. Luke's gospel, appears unquestionable, when it is compared with other parts of Scripture, more especially with St. John, chap. x. 16, and Rom. ii. 17, 21. x Acts xix. 4. z St. Luke vi. 12, 13. y John iii. 5. "them two and two before his face into every city "and place whither he himself would come." That the seventy were subordinate to the twelve, and that they were all subject to their divine Master, is evident from every passage in the Gospels, in which any mention is made of these two orders of ministers; and in this arrangement for laying the foundation of the Christian church, there is a striking resemblance to the means employed for conducting the Israelites to the land of promise. The Israelites were delivered from Egyptian slavery by Moses the servant of God; the members of the Christian church, who walk worthy of the vocation wherewith they are called, are delivered from slavery infinitely more intolerable by Jesus Christ the Son of God. The twelve tribes of Israel were conducted under Moses through the wilderness, by twelve officers, the heads of their respective tribes; and, on the foundation of the Christian church, Christ appointed twelve apostles, who, when he should sit on the throne of his "Glory, should also sit on twelve thrones, judging "the twelve tribes of Israel." And to complete the analogy, as the Lord commanded Moses to gather unto him seventy men of the elders of Israel, who, partaking of the spirit that was upon him, should bear the burthen of the people with him ; so Christ appointed the like number of disciples to go before his face to every place, whither he himself should come. An analogy so striking could not escape the observation of the apostles, after their divine Master had " opened their understandings, that they might "understand the Scriptures," and perceive the close connexion between the Mosaic and Christian dispensations. But, if the analogy between what may be called the civil polity of the Israelites in the a St. Luke x. 1. b Numbers xi. 16. wilderness, and the subordination established among our Lord's immediate followers, be thus evident, the analogy between the polity of the Jewish church and the same subordination is surely not less evident. In what relates to religion, the disciples could not but perceive that the station of Jesus himself resembled that of the high-priest; that the twelve held a place in the little flock similar to that of the priests among the Jews; and that the seventy answered to the Levites in the temple service. The twelve were sent out to preach the Gospel to all the Jews; to baptized the converts to the Christian faith; and, a little before the death of their Master, they were authorised to administer the rite commemorative of his sacrifice on the cross. To the seventy no other commission was given than to go before the face of Christ, and prepare the people for his reception, as "the Levites were given to Aaron and his sons, to "wait upon the service of the tabernacle of the con. gregation e❞ But neither the twelve nor the seventy had yet power to admit a single laborer into the vineyard, or to cast an individual out of the flock. 66 The church indeed was not yet built, though its foundation was laid, and a model exhibited for its future superstructure. As it is the purchase of Christ's blood, who gave himself for it, the building could not be completed till after his resurrection from the dead, and his ascension into heaven; and therefore the apostles were from the beginning intended to be the builders h, as soon as they should, for that purpose, be endowed with power from on high. It has accordingly been justly observed by an eminent prelate of the church of England', that they were gradually raised to their high office in a manner strikingly analogous to that in which their blessed d St. John iv. 1, 2. e Numbers iii. 9. viii. 24. g Gal. v. 25. i Archbishop Potter. Master was raised to his; and that hardly any power is said to have belonged to him, which he did not delegate to them, when he commissioned them to complete the work which he had begun. Although he was anointed, from his first appearance in this world, to be a king, priest, and prophet, he did not actually enter on any of those offices, until the Holy Ghost, descending visibly from heaven, had anointed him to them a second time. In like manner, though at an early period of his ministry he had separated the twelve from the multitude of believers, and promised even then that they "should "sit on twelve thrones judging the twelve tribes of "Israel," and that "whatsoever they should bind "on earth should be bound in heaven, and whatso"ever they should loose on earth should be loosed " in heaven; they did not actually receive this high commission, till after the resurrection of their divine Master, when he appeared to them saying,- "Peace be unto you; as my Father hath "sent me, even so send I you. And when he had "said this, he breathed on them, saying-Receive ye the Holy Ghost; whose-soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them; and whose-soever "sins ye retain, they are retained *." 66 After Whilst our blessed Lord sojourned on earth, he was the king of the Jews only, and, as such, when he sent forth the twelve to preach, he said, “Go "not into the way of the Gentiles, and into any "city of the Samaritans enter ye not; but go rather "to the lost sheep of the house of Israel." his resurrection from the dead, as the limits of his kingdom were extended, he extended likewise the commission of his apostles; for he said unto them, "All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. "Go ye therefore and teach all nations, baptizing "them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, " and of the Holy Ghost; teaching them to observe St. Matth. x. 5, 6. * St. John xx. 21, 22, 23. "all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and "lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the "worldm." They were not however to enter on this great office of converting the nations, and opening to them the kingdom of heaven, until they should receive the promise of the Father, which they had heard from him; for, added he, "John truly bap"tized with water, but ye shall be baptized with "the Holy Ghost not many days hence ";" alluding undoubtedly to his own baptism, when the Holy Ghost visibly descended on himself, as he did on them at the ensuing festival of Pentecost. n Thus striking is the analogy between the manner in which the man Christ Jesus was raised to his high office, and that in which he raised the apostles to theirs ; and thus ample was the authority which he conferred on those master-builders of his church. As the promise of the keys of the kingdom was first made to St. Peter, he had the honor to make the first converts both among the Jews and the Gentiles. It was in consequence of his preaching on the day of Pentecost, that three thousand souls were added to the number of the disciples; and then we read for the first time of a church as actually built. Immediately after the effects of that preaching it is said that the Lord added to the church daily such as "should be saved °.' St. Peter was likewise employed to open the door of the kingdom of Heaven, or the church, to the Gentiles P, who, being "aliens "to the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to "the covenant of promise," had hitherto been shut out from it; and this personal distinction-the reward of his heroic zeal in confessing his master-is the only foundation on which the supremacy of his successors in the see of Rome is endeavoured to be built, although it is obviously a distinction in which " in St. Matth. xxviii. 18, &c. Acts ii. 14, &c. n Acts i. 4, 5. |