His resurrection, and an account of one of His miracles ? Or is the narrative a typical one ? Is the passage intended to con- vey, under figures and symbols, great prophetical truths con- cerning the work of the ministry, and the history of the Church in every age, until the Lord comes ? The question is a serious one, and demands serious consideration.
(a) On the one hand, there is undeniable danger in the habit of seeking spiritual and allegorical meanings in the plain his- torical facts of God's Word. We may go so far in this direc- tion, that, like Origen, and too often Augustine, we may lose Bight of the primary simple meaning of Scripture, and turn the Bible into a mere book of riddles, which is useless to any common man, and useful only to those who have very fertile and fanciful imaginations. In fact, if we are always extract- ing figurative meanings out of Scripture, we may destroy the usefulness of the Book altogether. There must be some limit to the system of figurative interpretation. As a rule, I shrink intuitively from putting any sense on God's Word, which is not the obvious and plain sense of its language. Hooker's words are weighty and wise : " When a literal construction of a text will stand, that which is furthest from the letter is com- monly the worst."
(&) On the other hand, it is impossible to deny that all Christ's miracles were meant, more or less, to teach great spir itual truths, under allegories and figures ; and the passage be fore us is a miracle. In addition to this, we must remember that the occasion of the miracle before us was a peculiarly sol- emn one, — that the Apostles needed certain great truths to be impressed on their attention with peculiar force, by facts as well as by words, — and that, on the eve of His ascension into heaven, our Lord would be exceedingly likely to remind them of their duty, and their position as ministers, by things under their eyes as well as by instruction in their ears. Finally let us try to put ourselves in the position of the seven Apostles on the occasion before us, and try to imagine what they thought and felt about the incidents of this remarkable morning. It is very hard to imagine that they saw nothing but a simple mira- cle in all that happened. I cannot think so. — I think their hearts must have burned within them, and old spiritual truths, which they had heard before, must have revived in their minds with fresh power, and been written on their souls as with the point of a diamond, never to be effaced.
On the whole, then, I cannot avoid the conclusion, that the familiar verses before us probably contain, under symbolical facts, great spiritual truths. I think we are fairly justified in regarding the passage as a great parable, or vision, or allegory^ intended to convey to the Church of Christ lessons for all time. And I am strengthened in this conclusion by the remarkable fact, that almost all commentators, of every school and in every