25 And the watchman cried, and told the king. And the king said, If he be alone there is tidings in his mouth. And he came apace, and drew near.

26 And the watchman saw another man running: and the watchman called unto the porter, and said, Beholl, another man running alone. And the king said, He also bringeth tidings.

27 And the watchman said, Methinketh the running of the foremost is like the running of Ahimaaz the son of Zadok. And the king said, Hel is a good man, and cometh with good tidings.

28 And Ahimaaz called, and said unto the king, All is well And he fell down to the earth upon his face before the king, and said, Blessed2 be the LORD thy God, which hath delivered up the men that lifted up their hand against my lord the king.

29 And the king said, Is the young man Absalom safe? And

PARALLEL PASSAGES.- 11 Kings 1: 42.

Ahimaaz answered, When Joab sent the king's servant, and me thy ser vant, I saw a great tumult, but I knew not what it was.

30 And the king said unto him, Turn aside and stand here. And he turned aside, and stood still.

31 And behold, Cushi came; and Cushi said, Tidings, my lord the king :3 for the LORD hath avenged1 thee this day of all them that rose up against thee.

32 And the king said unto Cushi, Is the young man Absalom safe? And Cushi answered, The enemies5 of my lord the king, and all that rise against thee to do thee hurt, be as that young man is.

33 And the king was much moved, and went up to the chamber over the gate, and wept: and as he went, thus he said, O6 my son Absalom! my son, my son Absalom! would God I had died for thee, O Absalom, my son, my son!

Prov. 25: 13. Is. 52:7. 2Ps. 124: 6. SPs. 144: 7, 10. 4Luke 18: 7, 8. 5Judg. 5:31. Dan. 4:19. Ch. 19:4. Rom. 5:7, 8; 9:3.

and closed at nightfall. They contained chambers over the gateway, and probably also chambers or recesses at the sides for the various purposes to which they were applied. Smith's Bible Dictionary. 25. If he be alone - tidings in his mouth. Because several runners would have shown them. selves if it had been a flight.

Keil.

27. And the watchman said, etc. When the watchman saw by the running of the first that it was Ahimaaz, recognizing him probably by the swiftness of his running, and announced it to the king, he replied, "He is a good man, and cometh with good tidings," because Joab would not have selected him to bring any other than good news. Keil.

28-33. Ahimaaz then called out to the king, "Shalom!" i. e. Hail! and fell down before him to greet him reverentially, and said, "Blessed be Jehovah thy God, who hath given up the men that lifted up their hand against my lord the king." In answer to the king's inquiry, "Is it well with the young man Absalom?" Ahimaaz spoke as if he had been sent off before Absalom's fate had been decided or could be known. "The king's servant" is the Cushite, whom Ahimaaz saw just approaching, so,that he could point to him. The death of Absalom was indicated clearly enough in the words of the Cushite in verse 32, "The enemies of my lord the king," etc. The king understood the meaning of the words. He was agitated, and went up to the balcony of the gate and wept, and said, walking about, "My son Ab. salom, my son!" etc. To understand this passionate utterance of anguish, we must bear in mind not only the excessive tenderness, or rather weakness, of David's paternal affection towards his son, but also his anger that Joab and his generals should have paid so little regard to his command to deal gently with Absalom. With the king's excitable temperament, this entirely prevented him from taking a just and correct view of the crime of his rebel son, which merited death, and of the penal justice of God which had been manifested in his destruction. Keil. -The body of Absalom was cast into a pit and a heap of stones raised over it like to those which used to be formed over the graves of grievous malefactors. What a different tomb was this from that stately mausoleum which, in his pride of heart and with the desire of perpetuating his name, he had reared for himself in the king's dale! (Verse 18.) And as we stand to throw one stone upon his cairn, we cannot help exclaiming, How different his death had been

if his life had been but worthier! Had he chosen the path of filial love and reverence and sought to walk in morality and devout submission to the will of God, he might have blessed his own age, and left an example that might have won the admiration and imitation of succeeding generations; but as it is, he is held up here to the execration of humanity as the incarnation of filial ingratitude and the impersonation of revenge in its foulest and most unnatural shape. Combining in his career the guilt of Reuben with the sin of Cain, he added to it a parricidal treachery all his own; and having broken every law, both of the family and the state, he so put himself beyond the pale of human mercy that we cannot fail to see a fitness in the fate that overtook him. We undertake not to justify Joab for his disregard of David's tender injunction, yet none the less must we recognize the righteous retribution of which, in this instance, he was the executioner. The disobedient son, under the Mosaic law, was to be stoned to death; and in the heap that was added to the original cairn by the successive generations of his countrymen as they pronounced curses on his memory, we see a monumental beacon that marks forever the dangerous reef whereon he made shipwreck of his soul. Many things indeed entered into that bitter cup which David was made to drink in the chamber over Mahanaim's gate. There was the natural sorrow of a parent in the loss of a child whom he had once loved most passionately, and whom he still yearned after, though passionately, and whom he still yearned after though he had ceased to be worthy of his affection. There was also the hopelessness of this dreadful separation between him and his boy. When the infant of Bathsheba died, he could say, "I shall go to him "; but on this occasion there is no such comforting assurance. Absalom's sun had gone down in thickest darkness; no one ray of hope remained to relieve the gloom of his father's heart: and none but those who have been called to mourn in similar circumstances can tell how bitter is a grief like that. But worse than either of these ingredients in this cup of anguish would be, as I think, the consciousness in David's heart that if he had himself been all he ought to have been, his son might not thus have perished. Was there no connection between his own great trespass and 'Absalom's iniquity? If he had been less foolishly indulgent, Absalom might never have rebelled; nay, if he had been wiser, even after Absalom's fratricidal guilt, probably he had not stung him into revolt. Such thoughts and questionings as these would, I doubt not, intensify the sadness of the Psalmist in this trying hour; and it becomes every parent among us to see that in his training of his children, and in his life before them, there is nothing that may tend to ruin them. David now professes, and I believe with truth, to desire that he had died for Absalom; but that was a vain wish. He ought to have lived more for Absalom. He ought, by his own character, to have taught him to love holiness, or, at all events, he ought to have seen that there was nothing in his own conduct to encourage his son in wickedness or to provoke him to wrath; and then, though Absalom had made shipwreck, he might have had the consolation that he had done his utmost to prevent such a catastrophe. Dr. Wm. Taylor.

60

THE authorship of this Book is indicated by the introductory address. The writer refers to a former treatise, or Book I of the history; and we recognize at once "the gospel by Luke" as that c which he refers. That gospel narrative was addressed to this same Theophilus. And among the Evangelists, Luke was that one whose aim agrees most entirely with the object plainly contemplated in this Book II of the history.

The historian indicates his object and plan in the opening verses of this Book. He states distinctly that he wrote the gospel history as a summary narrative of the Life of Jesus, until the Ascension. But he notes here at once, as important for his present purpose, the Period of the Forty Days. And here he introduces the theme of our Lord's conversation and instructions, as it is also his own theme in this outline history of the primitive church, or kingdom of God.

In accordance with Luke's plan, as above noted, we find this apostolic history dividing itself, naturally, into THREE BOOKS. First of all we are introduced to

Book I.-THE CHURCH AMONG THE JEWS.

(Part I) THE FOUNDING AND MANIFESTATION OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH (chs. 1, 2). (Part II) THE SPREAD OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH AMONG THE JEWS (chs. 2-8).

Book II. — THE CHURCH IN ITS TRANSITION FROM THE JEWS TO THE GENTILES (chs. 8, 9). Book III. (Part I.) — THE SPREAD OF CHRISTIANITY AMONG THE DEVOUT GENTILES (chs. 10-12). Book III. (Part II.) — THE EXTENSION OF THE CHURCH AMONG THE IDOLATROUS GENTILES (chs. 8-28).

The Church of Christ now enters fairly upon her GREAT MISSIONARY WORK. The ERA OF FOREIGN MISSIONS now commences. The Apostolical Commission of the Church to disciple all nations, is now to be carried out. The FIRST STEP, taken by the Mother Church of the Gentiles (after expressing a true Christian charity towards the Jews by sending them alms in their extremity) is to commission two missionaries to the heathen. This was by the express direction of the Holy Spirit, and is a pattern. to all Gentile churches. Here begins the FIRST MISSIONARY JOURNEY.

It is quite generally agreed, except by the modern sceptical critics of the German school, that this Book was written at the close of the two years' period at Rome (ch. 28: 30,-about A. D. 63). Luke was then Paul's faithful companion, as he had also been on so great part of his journeyings. The credibility of the History is made apparent from various sources. The coincidences, evidently undesigned, yet very striking and numerous, which are found between the statements of this writer and those of ancient and profane authorities, are most conclusive. The allusions to the secular history of the time, in different parts of the Roman Empire, to the laws, customs, political constitutions, etc., of different provinces, are found to agree most exactly with the facts. And where, in some instances, critics had suppose there must be an inaccuracy, the difficulty has been solved by antiquarian research. Jacobus.

LESSON I. APRIL 2, 1876.

THE ASCENDING LORD. ACTS 1: 1-12.

[A. D. 33.]

1 The former treatise1 have I Jesus began both to do and made, O Theophilus, of all that

teach,

PARALLEL PASSAGE.-1Luke 1:1-4, etc.

1. The former treatise is no doubt the Gospel according to Luke, which is addressed to the same person, written in the same style, and exactly corresponds to this description. "Former treatise" might be more exactly rendered "first book or discourse." Alexander. - Theophilus. He appears from Luke 1, 3, to have been a man of rank. From the fact that Luke wrote his Gospel confessedly for Gentile readers, and that both there and here he has uniformly supplied such information respecting Jewish

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 :

PARALLEL PASSAGES. Luke 24: 15. John 20: 21.

3 To whom also he showed himself alive after his passion, by many3 infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days, and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God:

1Verse 9. Luke 24:51.

1 Tim. 3:16. 2Matt. 28: 19. Mar. 16: 15-19.

customs and places as they would need, we may conclude that Theophilus belonged to that class of readers, and that he was not, therefore, a Jew, or a resident in Palestine. The manner in which the book terminates favors the supposition that he may have lived at Rome or in Italy. Hackett. - Of all. Not hyperbole or exaggeration, but a relative expression meaning all that was included in the writer's plan or necessary to his purpose. Alexander. - Began. Began is not a superfluous expression, but emphatic and suggestive of two important facts. (1.) The first is, that what our Saviour did he did for the first time; no one ever did it before him. (2.) The second is that what he thus began in person upon earth was afterwards continued by the apostles under the influence and guidance of his Spirit. Alexander. 2. Until the day. The ascension was properly the termination of the gospel narrative. Luke had recorded this event (Luke 28: 50, 51) and Mark also (Mark 16: 19), though neither of them, as would seem, had been an eye-witness of it. Matthew and John, however, though they had been eyewitnesses of it, do not record it, while they use language which implies it. (Matt. 26: 64; 28: 18; John 20:17.) Their silence may be accounted for by supposing that they viewed the resurrection as properly involving the ascension as a necessary consequence; and so, indeed, they spoke of it. The apostles, who had been habitual attendants on our Lord, may naturally have regarded his resurrection as the proper⚫ close of their narrative, which related to his doings in the flesh. Jacobus.-Through the Holy Ghost. These words attach themselves naturally to the participle which they accompany, and it is forced, as well as unnecessary, to connect them with the verb in the next clause. This passage, in accordance with other passages, represents the Saviour as having been endued abundantly with the influences of the Spirit, and as having acted always in conformity with its dictates. (See 10, 38; Luke 4, 1; John 3, 34, etc.) That subjection was one of the laws of his dependent nature. That he revealed the command through the Holy Spirit cannot be meant, for the history shows that he gave this direction to them in person. Hackett.-Had given commandments. Luke showeth in these words that Christ did not so depart out of the world that he did no longer care for us; for in that he hath ordained a perpetual government in his church, he thereby declareth that he had a care for our salvation. Calvin.He first gave certain commandments to the apostles whom he had chosen. This, of course, includes the great closing command (Matt. 28: 19, 20; Mark 16:15-18; Luke 24: 44-49), the apostolic commission. This was the command in execution of which they went forth as chosen apostles, to the works which are recorded in this history as the Acts of the Apostles. The evangelist also records still another command (verse 4), requiring them to tarry at Jerusalem and wait in prayer for the promised Spirit. He did not ascend till he had thus provided for his church, and made definite arrangements looking to the efficiency of the ministry whom he had, appointed. This he did, it is said, through the Holy Ghost.-The apostles. It was the commandment, and not the office alone, that was given to them. It is to this we are to look. They were commissioned as a gospel ministry, and their proper successors are they who, as ministers of the New Testament, preach the truth of Christ in its simplicity and purity. - Chosen. For the choosing of the twelve, see Matt. 10; Luke 6: 12-16. These words are added to signify the proper dignity and authority of the apostolic office, which, as such, has no succession. Jacobus.

3. He shewed himself. The resurrection of Jesus was the great fact on which the truth of the gospel was to be established. Hence the sacred writers so often refer to it, and establish it by so many arguments. As that truth lay at the foundation of all that Luke was about to record in his history, it was of importance that he should state clearly the sum of the evidence of it in the beginning of his work. After his passion. After he suffered, referring particularly to his death as the consummation of his sufferings. The word "passion" with us means commonly excitement, or agitation of mind, as love, hope, fear, anger, etc. In the original the word means "to suffer." The word "passion," applied to the Saviour, denotes his last sufferings. Thus, in the Litany of the Episcopal Church, it is beautifully said, "By thine agony and bloody sweat; by thy cross and passion, good Lord, deliver us." Barnes. - Many infallible proofs. The idea of the verb mingles with that of the noun in many convincing manifestations. The word does not occur elsewhere in the New Testament, and is a very expressive term. Plato uses it to denote the strongest possible logical proof, as opposed to that which is weaker, and Aristotle employs it to signify demonstrative evidence. The language seems to show that the first Christians had distinctly revolved the question whether the Saviour's resurrection was real or not, and had assured themselves of its reality by evidence which did not admit in their minds of the shadow of a

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, ye2 have heard of me.

5 For John3 truly baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost4 not many days hence.

6 When they therefore were come, together, they asked of him, saying PARALLEL PASSAGES.-1Lu. 24: 49. 2John 14: 16. Matt. 3:11. 4Ch. 2:4; 10: 45; 11: 15. doubt. Our "infallible signs" does not express the sense too strongly. Hackett. - This evidence was infallible: (1.) Because it was to them unexpected. They had manifestly not believed that he would rise again. (John 20:25; Luke 24.) There was therefore no delusion resulting from any expectation of seeing him or from a design to impose on men. (2.) It was impossible that they could have been deceived in relation to one with whom they had been familiar for more than three years. No men could be imposed upon and made to believe that they really saw, talked with, and ate with a friend whom they had known so long and familiarly, unless it was real. (3.) There were enough of them to avoid the possibility of deception. Though it might be pretended that one man could be imposed on, yet it could not be that an imposition could be practised for forty days on eleven, who were all at first incredulous. (4.) He was with them sufficient time to give evidence. It might be pretended, if they had seen him but once, that they were deceived. But they saw him often, and for the space of more than a month. (5.) They saw him in various places and times where there could be no deception. If they had pretended that they saw him rise, or saw him at twilight in the morning when he rose, it might have been said that they were deluded by some remarkable appearance, or it might have been said that, expecting to see him rise, their hopes and agitations would have deceived them, and they would easily have fancied that they saw him. But it is not pretended by the sacred writers that they saw him rise. An impostor would have affirmed this, and would not have omitted it. But the sacred writers affirmed that they saw him after he was risen; when they were free from agitation; when they could judge coolly; in Jerusalem; in their company when at worship; when journeying to Emmaus; when in Galilee; when he went with them to Mount Olivet; and when he ascended to heaven. (5.) He appeared to them as he had always done, -as a friend, companion, and benefactor; he ate with them; wrought a miracle before them; was engaged in the same work as he was before he suffered; renewed the same promise of the Holy Spirit; and gave them his commands respecting the work which he had died to establish and promote. In all these circumstances it was impossible that they should be deceived. - Being seen of them forty days. There are no less than THIRTEEN different appearances of Jesus to his disciples recorded. Barnes. The kingdom of God, denoting in its widest sense the church, under all its forms and dispensations, and including, therefore, the theocracy or Jewish Church, but here referring more especially to the Messiah's kingdom, or the new form under which the church or chosen people was about to be reorganized. Alexander.

4. Being assembled together. (See Luke 24: 33-49.) - Not depart from Jerusalem. The reasons appear to be (1) Because of the prophecy. (Is. 2:3.) (2) Because there would be the greatest assembly of persons to witness this great miracle and to be worked upon by it. (3) Because it was most fit that this great work of Christ's power should be there displayed where had been his greatest humiliation; that those who were not convinced by the resurrection might be convinced by this miraculous gift of the Holy Ghost. Lightfoot.-Wait for the promise of the Father. It was the "promise of the Holy Spirit's outpouring" (verse 5). It is here termed "the promise of the Father," as the sum of the Old Testament promises, -as that chief gift which was lacking under the Old Dispensation, and which "was not yet, because Jesus was not yet glorified." (John 7:39.) Observe, they were charged to remain together at Jerusalem, because the Spirit was to come upon them in their united capacity, not as scattered, but as together, an assembly, the church. And so (ch. 2:1), the Spirit came upon them when "they were all, with one accord, in one place." This promise, Said He, ye have heard of (from) me. He had spoken it to them in Luke 24: 49. The Old Testament dispensation was called "the ministration of the letter," the New Testament dispensation, that of the Spirit. (2 Cor. 3: 6-8.) This had been promised under the Old Testament. (Joel 3:1; Zech. 12: 10.) He had said to them, "Behold I send the promise of my Father upon you. But tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem until ye be endued with power from on high." (Luke 24: 49.) This is recorded by Luke in immediate connection with the ascension. Jacobus.

5. Christ repeated this unto his apostles out of John's own words: "John was sent to baptize with water; he fulfilled his function as it became the servant of God. The Son of God is sent to baptize with the Holy Ghost; it remained, therefore, that he do his duty. Calvin.-Not many days hence. There was an interval of ten days between our Lord's ascension and the day of Pentecost. Beausobre. 6. At this time restore the kingdom. Their inquiry indicates an established faith in him as