The Pulpit Commentary — Luke — Volume 2 — Section 266

ft, behov<'<l." The verse ehonld be read !.hue: in the Revelation of St. John, presuppoee " Thu• it ie written the.t Chriet should the Ascension, when they describe the l!uff<>r," eto. These worde probe.bly were heavenly glory of Jesus aud of his session l!poken on that first Euter e,·ening. They were apparently repeated on several at the right hand of God. occasions during the forty days. The Old St. John's triple mention of the Ascension Testament-they would see now with the (see above) is exactly in accordance with new light <'nst upon it-showed the necessity his constant practice in his Gospel; he of an at,ming Redeemer, from the s,:n which avoids rewriting a formal narrative of things it ernrywhc,re reveals, and of a dying Re- deemer, from the death which it proclaims which, when he wrote, were well known in al! the consequence.. While the same Scrip- the Churches; yet he alludes to these things tures no less autboritatirnly proclaim that in clear and unmistakable language, and through this suffering the Redeemer-Messiah draws from them his leesons and conclusions. tihould nt!ain to his glorification. Notably this is the oase in the Fourth Yer. 4i.-And the.t repentanoe and re- Gospel with regard to the sacraments. "It mission of Bins should be preached in hill lfame among all nation&. This is more de- contains," says Dr. Westcott, " no formal finitely expressed in Matt. xxviii. 19 and narrative of the institution of encre.ments, Mark xvi. 15, where the universality of his and yet it presents most fully the idea of message, here summarized, is found in the sacraments." form of a definite command. lleginning at Neander writes with great foroo on thia Jerusalem. St. Luke enlarges the thought apparent omission of the Ascension: "We contained in these words in his Acts (i. 8). rs. ex. 2, contains the prophecy that from make the same remark upon the ascension Zion should first proceed the proclamation, of Christ as was before made upon his Ver. 48.-Ye are witnesses of these things. miraculous conception. In regard to neither This personal u,itnus of the first preachers is prominence given to the speoia.l and actual of Christianity was the secret of their great fact in the apostolic writings; in regard to power over men's hearts. What Dr. West- cott wrote of St. John was true of the rest both, such a fact is presupposed in the of the eleven. " We ha'De seen, and do testify. general conviction of the apostles, and in He (John) had no laboured process to go the connection of Christin.n consciousness. through; be saw. He he.d no constructive Thus the eod of Christ's appearance on earth proof to develop; he bore witness. His corresponds with its beginning. Christi- source of l.""llowledge T.·as direct, and his anity rests upon supernatural fe.cls-ste.nds mode of bringing conviction was to affirm." Yer. 49.-And, behold, I send the promise or falls with them. By faith in them has of my Father upon you. Promised on the the Divine life been generated from the be- last Passover evening (John xiv.-xvi; see ginning. Were thi~ foith gone, there might especially John xiv. 16-26; xv. 26, 27: indeed remain many of the effect• of what xvi. 7, etc.), and fulfilled partly on the first Christianity has been; but as for Chris- Eaater evening, when he breathed on them (John XL 22), and completely on the first tianity in the true sense, as for a Chribtiau Pentecost (Acts ii 1, etc.). llut tanyye in Church, there oould be none." the oity of lernaalem, 'lllltil ye be endued with power from on high. These words Ver. 50.-And ha led them out as far ae apparently were spoken on the day of his to llethany; more accurately, and he led ucension (see Acts i 4). them out until they u,ere over again•t Bethany. The scene of the Ascension could scarcely Vera. 50-53.-TBB ABCENBION. In con- have been the centre.I summit of the Mount lridering the questions which BUggest them- of Olives (Jebel-el-Tur), according to ancient tradition; but it is more likely that it took l!elvea in connection with the ascension of place on one of the remoter uplands which lie our blessed Lord, we are met on the above the village. "On the wild uplands threshold with the fact that only St. Luke, which immediately overhang the village, he in hill Gospel in this plaoe, and in the Act.a finally withdrew from the eyes ofhi,i disciples, (i.), has given ma detailed account of the in a seclusion which, perhaps, could nowhere elae be found so near the stir of a mighty ecene. But the fact ill referred to plainly city: the long ridge of ~Ii vet sore~niug by St. John (iii. 13; 'fi. 62; u. 17) and those hills, and those hills the village by St. Paul (Eph. iv. 9, 10: 1 Tim. iii. 16). beneath them, from all sound or eight of A vBBt number of passage• besides, in the the city behind; the view opening only 011 Epiatlllll of SS, faul, Pe~, ~11d Jamee, 11114 tbo wide waste of desert-n>cks ond ever- 011. xxrv. 1-68.] TIU! GOSPEL ACCORDtNG TO BT. LUKE, 277