interview was probably protracted through an entire night, that he appeared to them perhaps during their evening meal, and blessed and brake the bread before them, and continued for several hours to instruct them in the things pertaining to the kingdom, and prolonged these instructions during the long walk from the upper chamber to the scene of the ascension on the eastern slope of the mount of Olives, we will see that very much must have been said by him, and that each evangelist must make only a selection for the particular purposes of his gospel. Hence instead of attempting to make a harmony of these records, which usually makes a confusion of them, we prefer to take them just as they are given; believing that there was a reason for the variations, which requires that each record should be considered apart from the others, and not in forced amalgamation with them as is commonly done. The ultimate reasons for the different forms in which we find the apostolic commission recorded, will probably be found to coincide with the ultimate reasons for the different gospels in which they are written. What these reasons are must be left in some measure, to conjecture. That there were satisfactory reasons requiring that the life of our Lord should be recorded in four gospels, instead of one, must be conceded by all, and probably the same reasons required four records of the apos this reason that he acted as the chief spokesman in the first synod, which declared that the observance of the Mosaic law was not obligatory on the Gentiles. His opinion would be of decisive weight with the judaizing part of the church. And it was in the same wise spirit of compromise that he advised Paul (Acts xxi. 20-25) to purify himself according to the law in the case of vows, in order that he might not offend the prejudices of the Jewish multitude. He was thus a transition link between the two dispensations, and presented to the Jews the best possible form of the Christian faith for their acceptance and approval. It was in special kindness to them that such a type of Christianity was presented to them, for by it their introduction to the truth in Jesus was made peculiarly easy. In James they saw that the most blameless reverence for Moses was no barrier to the reception of Christ, and if unable with such a type of Old Testament piety to receive New Testament truth, there remained no further possible means. Hence James did not itinerate, like the other apostles, as far as we can learn, but remained in Jerusalem, where he could most readily have access to the Jews. When he had laboured in person for some time, he sent forth the epistle that bears his name, "to the twelve tribes scattered abroad," (James i. 1,) thus confirming the fact that his mission was one mainly to the Jews. Nor did his life continue beyond the period when this mission could be fulfilled. He is alleged to have been martyred nearly forty years after the erection of the Christian church, and shortly before the downfall of Jerusalem, after which event the Jews became generally so hostile to Christianity that but few conversions took place among them. Hence his great work seems to have been to gather the elect remnant of the Jewish church into the Christian, and thus bring in "the children of the kingdom," and for this work it is plain that he was specially fitted in every respect. It is here that we may find the meaning of this appearance. If James were then a disciple at all, it is probable that his faith before this time was clouded with Jewish prejudices. He did not see clearly the truth as it was in Jesus. It was therefore needful that our Lord should appear to him, and by confirming his faith in the most immovable manner, by enlarging his knowledge of the great plan of salvation, and by giving him such visions of the future as he needed, prepare him for the great work he was to do in the christian church, and the self-denials and sufferings that were necessarily connected with that work. As the representative of the religion of Christ to the Jews, as the first pastor of the church in Jerusalem, the Moderator of the first General Synod of the church, the adviser and guide of Paul, and the ter may be used in the work of redemption to accomplish ends that a more absolute perfection might fail to reach; and that the books that eternity shall open for our perusal contain the solution of many a mystery that has baffled us here on earth. CHAPTER XV. THE TENTH APPEARANCE-THE APOSTOLIC COMMISSION IN MATTHEW. The place, Jerusalem and Olivet-The four forms of the commission -Why?—Their distinctness-Meaning of the commission-Not the original authority to preach and baptize. I. Authority of the commission. The mediatorial kingdom of Christ-All power. II. The commission. (1) To make disciples. (2) To baptize disciples-Subjects of baptism-Baptismal formula-Trinity. (3) To teach disciples--Inspiration-The three offices of Christ. III. Encouragement. The presence of Christ-I AM-"All days"-Days of worship, of toil, of trial, and of death. "Oh thou who mournest on thy way, The dear Lord ordereth all things well." "And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and 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 all things whatsoever I have commanded you, and lo! I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen."-Matt. xxviii. 18-20. WE now reach the last, and in some respects the most important, appearance of our Lord to his disciples. The place of its occurrence was partly |