Page images
PDF
EPUB

principal Parts of which it confifts, viz. the miraculous Abilities conferred upon the Apostles and primitive Difciples; their preaching of this Religion first to the Jewish Land; and then the Progrefs they made in it thro' feveral large Tracts of the Gentile World; you will, I hope, attain the proper Advantages of this Divine History, for building yourselves up in your moft Holy Faith, in thefe following Conclufions and Obfervations.

First, That thefe miraculous Endowments of the Holy Spirit upon the Apoftles and firft Chrif tians, are an ample and compleat Confirmation of the Truth of the Gospel History, and Religion.

Secondly, That tho' we have left us in this Book, an Account chiefly of the Travels of but two Apoftles, viz. St. Peter and St. Paul (and but a brief and fhort Abstract of them neither) yet the indefatigable Labours, Sufferings, and Pains we find them to have taken, are a fufficient Intimation and Affurance of the fame Industry and Application of all the other Apoftles, that were difperfed into other Parts of the World, for demonftrating and establishing the Chriftian Religion.

Thirdly, That the hiftorical Accounts we have of the Travels, Miracles, and Succeffes of the reft of the Apoftles from the beft Ecclefiaftical Writers, tho' they be not of the fame Divine Authority with those of this Book, nor all of equal Credibility; yet, in the main, have a great Degree of hiftorical and probable Truth. And,

Laftly, That whatever the depraved and miferable Eftate of Ignorance and Error, of the far major Part of the World may now be, yet the Divine Goodnefs and Providence was not at firft wanting in beftowing on them all the Means of true and faving Religion by his Gofpel.

A

A

PARAPHRASE

ΟΝ ΤΗΕ

ACTS of the Holy APOSTLES.

CHAP. I.

The CONTENTS.

An Account of fome Paffages, between Chrift and his Apofiles, after his Refurrection. Of what paffed at his Afcenfion. The Election of Matthias into the Apostleship. 1.THE former 1 & 2. HE Gofpel which I A. D. 33

treatife have I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jefus began both to do and teach.

2. Until the day in which he was taken up, after that he, thro' the holy Ghoft, had given commandments to the apostles whom he had chofen ;

TH

Luke wrote fome Time ago (for your Inftruction, moft excellent Theophilus) contains an historical Account of the

Life, Doctrine, and Religion of Jefus Chrift the Meffiah and Saviour of Mankind; in which I was as full and particular † as I thought needful for the Inftruction of any Chriftian Convert: Beginning from the Birth and Preaching of John the Baptift, his Forerunner, fent to prepare the Minds of Men for the Reception of his Religion; and ending at the Day of his Afcenfion, when he was taken up into Heaven by the Power of the fame Holy Spirit that conducted him thro' the whole Course

of

* Ver. 1. The former TreatifeTdy wealov λóyor; or, πρῶτον λόγον; the former Part, viz. St. Luke's Gospel, and this of the Acts, feeming to have been but two Parts of one and the fame Book, and probably publifh'd together. See Appendix to the Paraphrafe on 1 Tim. in Imitation of Mr. Lock's Manner, by a moft learned anonymous Author.

+ Ibid. Пsei Tavlov must be thus limited; fee Job. xxi. 25. 1 Ver. 2." He through the Holy Ghost It being not by Expofitors clearly determined, to which Part of the Sentence

2

[ocr errors]

thefe

A. D. 33.of his Miniftry, and in the Choice, Management, and Direction of his twelve Apoftles, who were to be the Witneffes of what he had done and taught, and the chief Ministers of his Kingdom.

3. To whom alfo he fhewed himself a live after his paffion by many infallible proofs, being feen of them forty days, and fpeaking of the things pertaining to the king

3. To which twelve Apostles (as I there related, Luke xxiv.) he thewed himself alive immediately after his Resurrection, convincing them of the Truth and Reality of it by many the most undeniable Proofs, and continued Demonftrations for forty Days together, by eating, and drinking, and difcourfing with them in his wonted familiar Manner, about the Nature, Excellency, and Success of his Religion and Doctrine, which they were to preach and propagate to Mankind.

dom of God.

[blocks in formation]

4 & 5. At the laft of which Times of his Meeting and Converfation with them, being the very Day on which he afcended, he order'd them not to begin this great Work of preaching the Gofpel immediately, but to stay at Jerufalem, till he should fend down upon them thofe Gifts of the Spirit, which God had long before promifed to his Church, Joel ii. 28. and which (faid he) you have heard me several Times

speak

thefe Words are to be connected, i. e. Whether Chrift is faid to have been taken up by the Holy Ghoft, or to have chosen and commanded his Apoftles by the Holy Ghoft; I have therefore expreffed both Meanings in the Paraphrafe. But indeed αναληφθείς δια being not fo good Greek as ειλάμω διά I take the latter to be the true Sense, and the Construction of the Words feem to determine it fo.

* As fome of our best Commentators think, though it be not abfolutely certain.

+ "Or being rendered by that, connects the Senfe of the two Veries. Or, it may be no Reference to any particular former

I

Ghoft, not many days fpeak of, and engage to fulfil up- A. D. 33. + hence. on you my Apoftles, in Words to this Effect, viz. That as John the Baptist made and received his Difciples by the fignificant Ceremony of plunging them in Water, so you shall be confecrated to my Miniftry and Apostleship in a Manner much more folemn and excellent, by a moft plentiful and miraculous Effufion of the Holy Spirit, to qualify you for fo great a Work; and this I will perform about ten † Days hence.

6. When they therefore were come together, they asked of him, faying, Lord, wilt thou at this time reftore again the king

dom to Ifrael?

6. Jefus faw the greater Occafion of giving this Order, and repeating this fpecial Promise to his Apoftles, from the common Prejudice and falfe Notions they ftill had, of the temporal and fecular Grandeur of his Kingdom; or at least that his Kingdom was now prefently to come; which they exprefs'd too plainly (fome of them at least) by asking him, whether, after his Refurrection and Ascent into Heaven, he intended to gather the Jewish Nation from their Difperfion, and raife it into a victorious and powerful State; as they expected the Meffiah would do?

7. And he faid unto them, It is not for you to know the times or the feasons which the Father hath put

7 & 8. To which Jefus gave them this proper and feafonable Reply. There are, indeed, great and large Things spoken by the Prophets, concerning the Reftoration and flourishing Eftate of the Jewish Church, under the Meffiah; but the particular Time and Manner, in which God fhall please to accomplish thefe, is one of thofe Secrets which he

in his own power.

has

former Speech, but a general Recapitulation of former PromiJes now renewed; and then our Tranflation ftands good.

See the foregoing NOTE.

+ Viz. At Pentecoft, which was ten Days after Christ's Afcenfion.

Ver. 6. Reftore the Kingdom to Ifrael. See Luke xxii. 29, 30. I appoint unto you a Kingdom, &c.

See Dan. vii. 13, 14.

A. D. 33.

8. But ye shall re-
ceive * power after
that the holy Ghoft
is come upon you:
and ye shall be wit-
neffes unto me, both

in Jerufalem, and in
all Judea, and in Sa-
maria, and unto the
uttermost parts of

has referv'd to himself, Deut. xxix. 29. In the mean Time, let this fatisfy you, that you fhall be the firft and chief Officers under me, in erecting and governing my Kingdom: The Holy Ghoft, which I have fo often promifed, fhall endow you with fuch * Power, that you shall give miraculous Evidences of the Truth of my Religion, fhall conquer the Prejudices, and gain the Belief of Mankind, and fhall extend thefe Conquefts not only over this City and the Jewish Land, but even to very far and diftant Parts of the Gentile World.

the earth.

9. And when he had spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up, and a cloud received him out of their fight.

9. These are fome of the laft Words that Jefus fpoke to his Difciples upon Earth, which as foon as he had ended, and given them his folemn Bleffing, Luke xxiv. 50. there appeared from Heaven a Cloud of Glory, with Holy Angels, which took him up from the Ground before their Eyes, and gradually mounted him out of their Sight.

a Retinue of the

10. And while they looked ftedfaftly to ward heaven, as he went up, behold two men flood by them in white apparel;

10 & 11. To which I now add another remarkable Circumftance, That while the Difciples were beholding his glorious Afcent, with the_utmoft Amazement and and Concern to be parted from him (and, perhaps, with fome Hopes that he would foon return to them again) two of the Angels that attended him, came down near to them in human Form, in bright and glitter

ing

*Ver. 8. Antes dúvauiv, Ye shall receive Power. The Word Power feems here to be emphatical, as respecting the Difciples Notion of having temporal Power under Chrift.-Ye fhall receive Power indeed of a much more excellent Kind.

+ "Ews égals & ys. See Ver. 1. and Luke xxiv. 47, 48, 49.

« EelmineJätka »