Page:An Exposition of the Old and New Testament (1828) vol 6.djvu/12

6 of this book. 2. Among the Gentiles, which we have an account of in the latter part: from thence, and downward to our own day, we find the christian church subsisting in a visible profession of faith in Christ, as the Son of God and Saviour of the world, made by his baptized disciples, incorporated into religious societies, statedly meeting in religious assemblies, attending on the apostles' doctrine, and joining in prayer and breaking of bread, under the conduct and precedency of men that gave themselves to prayer and the ministry of the word, and in a spiritual communion with all in every place that do likewise. Such a body as this there is now in the world, which we belong to: and, to our great satisfaction and honour, in this book we find the rise and original of it, vastly different from the Jewish church, and erected upon its ruins; but undeniably appearing to be of God, and not of man. With what confidence and comfort may we proceed in, and adhere to, our christian profession, as far as we find it agrees with this pattern in the mount; to which we ought religiously to conform and confine ourselves.

Two things more are to be observed concerning this book. (1.) The penman of it. It was written by Luke, who wrote the third of the four gospels, which bears his name; and who (as the learned Dr. Whitby shews) was, very probably, one of the seventy disciples, whose commission (Luke 10. 1, &c.) was little inferior to that of the twelve apostles. This Luke was very much a companion of Paul in his services and sufferings. Only Luke is with me, 2 Tim. 4. 11. We may know by his style in the latter part of this book, when and where he was with him, for then he writes, We did so and so, as ch. 16. 10.—20. 6. and from thenceforward to the end of the book. He was with Paul in his dangerous voyage to Rome, when he was carried thither a prisoner; was with him when from his prison there he wrote his epistles to the Colossians and Philemon, in both which he is named. And it should seem that St. Luke wrote this history when he was with St. Paul at Rome, during his imprisonment there, and was assistant to him; for the history concludes with St. Paul's preaching there in his own hired house. (2.) The title of it; The Acts of the Apostles; of the holy Apostles, so the Greek copies generally read it, and so they are called, Rev. 18. 20. Rejoice over her, ye holy apostles. One copy inscribes it, The Acts of the Apostles by Luke the Evangelist. [1.] It is the history of the apostles; yet here is in it the history of Stephen, Barnabas, and some other apostolical men, who, though not of the twelve, were indued with the same Spirit, and employed in the same work. And of those that were apostles, it is the history of Peter and Paul only that is here recorded; (and Paul was now of the twelve;) Peter the apostle of the circumcision, and Paul the apostle of the Gentiles, Gal. 2. 7. But this suffices as a specimen of what the rest did in other places, pursuant to their commission, for they were none of them idle. And as we are to think what is related in the gospels concerning Christ sufficient, because Infinite Wisdom thought so, the same we are to think here concerning what is related of the apostles, and their labours; for what more is told us from tradition of the labours and sufferings of the apostles, and the churches they planted, is altogether doubtful and uncertain, and what I think we cannot build upon with any satisfaction at all; this is gold, silver, and precious stones, built upon the foundation; that is wood, hay, and stubble. [2.] It is called their acts, or doings. Gesta apostolorum. So some. Πράξεις—their practices of the lessons their Master had taught them. The apostles were active men; and though the wonders they did were by the word, yet they are fitly called their acts; they spake, or rather the Spirit by them spake, and it was done. The history is filled with their sermons and their sufferings; yet so much did they labour in their preaching, and so voluntarily did they expose themselves to sufferings, and such were their achievements by both, that they may very well be called their acts.

The inspired historian begins his narrative of the Acts of the Apostles, I. With a reference to, and a brief recapitulation of, his gospel, or history of the life of Christ, inscribing this, as he had done that, to his friend Theophilus, v. 1, 2. II. With a summary of the proofs of Christ's resurrection, his conference with his disciples, and the instructions he gave them during the forty days of his continuance on earth, v. 2..5. III. With a particular narrative of Christ's ascension into heaven, his disciples' discourse with him before he ascended, and the angels' discourse with them after he was ascended, v. 6..11. IV. With a general idea of the embryo of the christian church, and its state from Christ's ascension to the pouring out of the Spirit, v. 12..14. V. With a particular account of the filling up of the vacancy that was made in the sacred college by the death of Judas, by the electing of Matthias in his room, v. 15..26.

HE former treatise have I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach, 2. Until the day in which he was taken up, after that he through the Holy Ghost had given commandments unto the apostles whom he had chosen: 3. To whom also he shewed himself alive; after his passion by many infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days, and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God: 4. And, being assembled together with them, commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which, saith he, ye have heard of me. 5. For John truly baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence.

In these verses,

I. Theophilus is put in mind, and we in him, of St. Luke's gospel, which it will be of use for us to cast an eye upon before we enter upon the study of this book, that we may see not only how this begins there where that breaks off, but that, as in water face answers to face, so do the acts of the apostles to the acts of their Master, the acts of his grace.

1. His patron, to whom he dedicates this book, (I should rather say his pupil, for he designs, in dedicating it to him, to instruct and direct him, and not to crave his countenance or protection,) is, Theophilus, v. 1. In the epistle dedicatory before his gospel, he had called him most excellent Theophilus, here he calls him no more than O Theophilus, not that he had lost his excellency, or that it was diminished and become less illustrious; but either he