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10 Then said Jesus unto them, Be not afraid go tell my brethren that they go into Galilee, and there shall they see me.

11 Now when they were going, behold, some of the watch came into the city, and shewed unto the chief priests all the things that were done.

12 And when they were assembled with the elders, and had taken counsel, they gave large money unto the soldiers,

and affectionate salutation. The Syriac persed them, and overcame for a time has, "Peace be unto you." their faculties, does not appear. It would seem, however, that some time did elapse before they came into the city, and that then they arrived in scattered companies: Some of the watch came into the city, &c.

Held him by the feet. An action which expressed the deepest reverence, mingled with the strongest affection. By embracing his feet they were also assured that it was not a phantom which they beheld, but the body of the real Jesus.

And worshipped him.—Although the original word will not of itself prove that this was an act of divine worship, who can reasonably doubt it, when his resurrection had indeed demonstrated him to be the SON OF GOD, a title to which all the Jews attached ideas of divinity? Nor did Jesus, after his resurrection, prescribe that proper worship which we know the disciples publicly and constantly paid to him after his ascension; because it followed of course from his being thus proved to be what he had professed, THE SON OF THE LIVING GOD.

Verse 11. Some of the watch came into the city. It may be remarked that St. Matthew states only the leading facts of the resurrection, and a few only of the appearances of Jesus afterwards, and these briefly; his main object being to refute the tale circulated respecting the stealing of the body of Jesus, which he now introduces He gives all that is necessary to establish the facts, and to show that he was acquainted with the manner in which the slanderous attempt to account for the absence of our Lord from the tomb originated. This having been sufficiently done by him, the other evangelists record other particulars; for all the Gospels have respect to each other.

How long it was before the soldiers of the Roman guard recovered from that overwhelming terror, which probably dis

Verse 12. When they were assembled, and had taken counsel.-The absurd fiction which was invented was therefore the work of the sanhedrim or great council, the same that had condemned our Lord. Their incredulity and obduracy are indeed astonishing; but scarcely more so than that they had all along manifested; and we must take into account that they were men judicially given up by God to the blind and malevolent passions of their own bad hearts. That they were guilty of both a wicked and a clumsy fiction is seen from this, that afterwards they manifestly appear to have been ashamed of avowing it, and that it was adopted in haste as a temporary expedient. Of this we have a striking, though an incidental, proof in the words of Gamaliel, in this very council, who, when Peter and the other apostles were brought before them for preaching the very fact of Christ's resurrection, and they were disposed to put them to death, said, "If this counsel and work be of men, it will come to nought; but if it be of God, ye cannot overthrow it," Acts v. 38, 39;-words which presupposed that the resurrection might be true, and which could not have been uttered had the council continued to maintain the story they taught to the Roman soldiers. Still, it was something that they had originated a tale which ignorance and prejudice made long current among the vulgar; for the evangelist adds, And this saying is commonly reported among the Jews

13 Saying, Say ye, His disciples came by night and stole him away while we slept.

14 And if this come to the governor's ears, we will persuade him, and secure you.

15 So they took the money, and did as they were taught: and this saying is commonly reported among the Jews until this day.

16 Then the eleven disciples went away into Galilee, into a mountain where Jesus had appointed them.

17 And when they saw him, they worshipped him: but some doubted.

18 And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.

to this day. Unwilling to believe so clearly a demonstrated truth, like all those who love error, they were given up "to believe a lie," the absurdities of which they obstinately overlooked. For, as the obvious remark has been often made, if the whole sixty soldiers slept, how should they know how the body was taken away? if only a part of them, they would alarm the rest; and if the whole were awake, their force was sufficient to resist the attempt. Yet, infidels, and infidel biblical critics too, of the present time, believe equal absurdities in framing theories to refute or to explain away "the supernaturalism," as it is called, of the holy scriptures. Thus human nature, in all ages, is true to itself; and the objections which have been urged against the miracles and the resurrection of Christ, from the very unbelief of the Jews of the same, are solved by the moral phenomena which the human heart in every age exhibits.

apostles, but of the disciples then with them; for now our Lord fulfilled his promise, to appear to his disciples generally in Galilee; and this was probably the time when he was seen of "the five hundred brethren at once." They doubted whether it was he, when he first appeared; but when he came and spake to them, as it follows in the next verse, they doubted no longer.

Verse 18. All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.-Our Lord's dominion therefore comprehends angels, men, and devils. "All things are put under him," saving, as St. Paul observes, "that he is excepted which did put all things under him." Every creature, through the wide realms of space, is subjected to the rule of THE GOD-MAN MEDIATOR; all are made subservient to the working out of his grand design, the restoration of our world from sin and misery, rendered wretched by sin; and the manifestation, through successive ages, of his own rectoral justice, boundless mercy, and infinite wisdom. And this his authority shall, in the fulness of time, be acknowledged even by those who have most rebelliously struggled against it. By the conquests of GRACE OF POWER all shall be subdued, "that at his name every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and Verse 17. Some doubted.-Not of the things in earth, and things under the

Verse 14. Persuade him.-Conciliate or appease him; because it was death for the sentinel to sleep upon his post.

Verse 16. Went away to Galilee.-Not immediately, but some time after; the brevity of St. Matthew omitting the intermediate appearances of Christ, as recorded by the other evangelists.

b

19 Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:

b Mark xvi. 15.

earth; and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father," Phil. ii. 10, 11. Verse 19. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, &c.-The connexion of these words with the foregoing is highly important. Go ye THEREFORE; that is, Because I have all power in heaven and earth, go ye and teach all nations, "preach the gospel to every creature," Mark xvi. 15; for to me belongs the RIGHT to command their faith and obedience, and to prescribe the terms of their reconciliation to God; and I have POWER to bless and to save, to condemn and to punish. Nor was this declaration of Christ's universal and unlimited dominion less encouraging to those who were to be sent on so hazardous an enterprise. It was their faith in his power which sustained them; in that they confided to give efficacy to their ministry; and resting on that, they defied their enemies. It was a motive which appealed to their deepest fears and to their highest hopes; they feared not them that could kill the body, but him who had power to cast both body and soul into hell, if they proved false to their trust; and they placed their joyful hope in one who had equal power to raise his faithful servants above death and the grave, and to crown them with immortality and eternal life.

Verse 19. Teach all nations.-Make disciples of all nations; which means, instruct them in the faith, and persuade them to the belief and reception of it; for how else should men be made disciples but by instructing them in the doctrine held out to their acceptance?

Baptizing them, &c.-So that instruction as to those capable of it, which is manifestly implied, must precede baptism; this being a rational ordinance to be submitted to on knowledge and conviction, and not that to which it has often

been debased, something little better than a superstitious charm and ceremony.

On this great rite it may be remarked, 1. That it is of universal obligation; all who are made disciples are to be baptized. 2. That it is designed as a public profession of faith in the Trinity in Unity; that is, in the Deity as revealed in the holy scriptures; the doctrine of which, that there is one divine essence, and that "in the unity of this Godhead there are three persons of one substance, power, and eternity, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost;" which profession of faith is also an acknowledgment of their various rights, relations, and offices, and of entire submission to them. 3. That it is the initiatory rite by which we enter the covenant of grace. The old covenant had circumcision for its initiatory rite; and if Christian baptism is not to be regarded as taking its place, then has this new and better covenant no ini. tiatory rite at all, since the Lord's supper is not initiatory but of regular and habitual observance. But as the entrance into the Jewish church was by circumcision, so the entrance into the Christian church is by baptism. Hence its administration is here prescribed to those who are made disciples, and as such disposed to become formally the members of Christ's church. Hence it derives its federal or covenant character, and is rightly considered as a mystery or sacrament. Of the blessings of this covenant it is the SIGN, holding forth the washing away of sin, and the pouring out of the Holy Ghost; and it is the SEAL, inasmuch as, being administered under the command of Christ, it is a constant PLEDGE of his unchangeably gracious intentions to those that believe and are baptized; whilst our submission to this rite is that act by which we accept and make ourselves parties to this cove.

20 Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you; and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world.

Amen.

nant of grace and salvation, claiming its blessings, and binding ourselves to fulfil its conditions. 4. The rite of baptism, instituted by Christ, differs both from that of John and that which was administered by the disciples of Jesus before his resurrection. John baptized into a belief of the speedy appearing of Messiah; the disciples, in the name of Jesus, which was a profession of faith in him as the Messiah; but the rite as instituted by our Lord, was baptism in the name, into the name, of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,-into the belief and worship of the triune God as above stated, including faith in the incarnation and offices of the Son, and the offices and operations of the Holy Spirit. All these are the objects of distinct profession, and where these are not acknowledged there can be no truly Christian baptism; men stumble at the very threshold, and cannot enter into the church of God and covenant of grace. 5. Baptism is therefore a standing testimony to the doctrine of the holy Trinity, and the offices of each person in the economy of redemption. The name is ONE, not names; the persons, THREE, each of whom is manifestly represented as coequal, because the common objects of trust, obedience, and worship, and the source of blessing. Thus is the absolute unity and the divine character of that sacred Three unequivocally marked, in a rite by which they become our ONE and ONLY God, and we become His people.

It has been questioned whether these words prescribe the formula to be used in baptism, or merely express the end and intention of the rite. If the former, the latter is necessarily included in it as its reason; but should the latter only have been intended by our Lord, yet when used as a formula, they do no more than audibly declare the real import of the rite, which is never truly performed but when the Trinity in Unity, with the relations and glories of each of the three

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persons as revealed in the scriptures, is acknowledged. Nothing therefore can be so proper as the use of words which publicly declare the intention of the rite; and it may be traced up to the first ages of the Christian church. Arguments for and against the baptism of infants have been deduced from these words. "How," say some, are all nations to be baptized, if children are to be excluded?" "How," says the antipædo-baptist, "should children be included, if baptism is to follow instruction and believing?" The truth is, that adults could only be spoken of in the text; and the right of the children of believers rests on other grounds, and may be sufficiently established by them.

Verse 20. Teaching them to observe, &c.— To make disciples, implies, as above observed, teaching in order to knowledge and faith; but this is elementary teaching, and is not intended to supersede the more copious and constant teaching which is to succeed baptism. A stronger word, didaσxw, is therefore used; and the object of this patient and official instruction assigned to ministers is, to lead the baptized to OBSERVE all things whatsoever I have commanded you,-to practise universal obedience without separating one duty from another, and to do this perseveringly to the end of life. Thus we have the three-fold end of the Christian ministry, to convert men to the faith, by making them disciples of Christ, to bring them to a public profession and cordial reception of it by baptism, and to train them up to the practice of universal holiness, as their preparation for heaven.

And, lo, I am with you, &c.-As no men had so high a work assigned them as the conversion and sanctification of men, so these words reminded them of two great truths that it was not a work of man but of God, so that the divine invisible presence of Christ with them was necessary to their success; and also that his presence should be ever with his faithful

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ministers, both to aid and comfort them, and to give efficacy to their labours.

Always.—Пaσas Tas nμepas, all the days, that is daily, or constantly, without interruption.

Unto the end of the world.-Unto the consummation of all things; which shows that the ministry was to be perpetuated

throughout all time, and that the words of Christ in these verses were not addressed to the apostles only, but to their successors throughout all future ages.

Amen. - This was either added by Christ in confirmation of his promise; or by the evangelist to express his joyful concurrence and earnest wish.

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