do so in answer to the prayers of his church, and missionaries thus sent forth are more likely to be blessed in their labours. The language in the original may be rendered thus" that he would thrust out;" which words are expressive of the difficulty of procuring or persuading suitable men to undertake the office. What multitudes there are endeavouring every year to gain admission into the ministry of our established churches at home, but how few are soliciting the high and honourable office of ambassadors for God to heathen lands! The great complaint of missionary institutions in this day, is not so much a want of funds, as a want of properly qualified and devoted men. Can it be possible that men who profess to be the followers of him who went about doing good, are unwilling to undergo the labour, and expose themselves to the danger of a missionary life, and are influenced to seek a pastoral settlement at home," on account of the ease and comfort and safety which a prosperous establishment supplies? Whatever may be the cause of this reluctance, God alone can overcome it, and to him should the prayers of all his people be sent up, that he would send forth men who will not seek their own, but the things of Jesus Christ, and who will be laborious in the missionary field, for THERE ARE NO SINECURES IN THE SERVICE OF GOD. These verses should lead us to form this opinion, that the criterion of the prosperity and usefulness of missionary societies is not the state of their funds, but the amount of zealous and laborious ministers who are employed in their service. Oh! let the churches of Christ unite more frequently in earnest and persevering supplications in obedience to these directions which he has given to his people.

CHAPTER X.

The Twelve Disciples receive their
Commission.

1. And when he had called unto him his twelve disciples, he gave them power against unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal all manner of sickness, and all manner of disease.

tute state of the people, as sheep having no shepherd, was a suitable preface to his sending out his twelve apostles. Thus the institution of a gospel ministry had its immediate rise, not only in the general mercy, but in a special movement of the compassion of Christ. Those who were now appointed had been for some time " for some time "disciples," learning from him those great truths which they were afterwards to preach to others. So arduous and important is the office of a minister, that there should always be a probationary and preparatory course of discipline and instruction for those who are to be admitted into it. In the selection of " twelve" apostles, Christ had reference to the origin of the Jewish State, which sprung from the twelve patriarchs, and constructed his church upon the same model. From the nature of the work to which they were appointed, it was necessary that the apostles should be able to prove their divine authority, and this power was conferred upon them by Jesus. He enabled them to perform works of mercy which were both proofs that He had sent them, and were also specimens of the happy and beneficial consequences to the world which shall result from the complete establishment of the kingdom they were directed to preach of. "Unclean spirits" are the authors and the instigators of sin; “sickness and disease" are the effects of sin: to cast out the one, and to remove the other from our world, is the great object of the Saviour's mission. What was partially achieved by the power which Christ displayed at his first coming was but the first fruits of what shall be completely accomplished when he shall come again in glory, "when he shall send forth his angels to gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them that do iniquity."

2. Now the names of the twelve apostles are these: The first, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother; James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother;

3. Philip, and Bartholomew; Thomas, and Matthew the publican; James the son of Alpheus ; and Lebbeus, whose surname was

4. Simon the Canaanite, and Judas Iscariot, who also betrayed him.

This is the first time that the word "APOSTLES" occurs in the Bible. The word literally denotes any persons who are sent to transact business for another. It is applied to Christ, as in Heb. iii. 1, as he was sent by the Father to finish the work of our redemption. It is more generally appropriated to those who were specially chosen by the Lord to preach the gospel. The qualifications of an apostle are stated in Acts i. 21-26. The names of the twelve are here enumerated.

1. SIMON, also called PETER. He was the son of John or Jonas. His first introduction to Christ is related in John i. 41, 42. He is generally placed "first" in order, and is here expressly said to be "the first," not from any supremacy of authority, such as the church of Rome claims for him, but probably because he was the first who was called to be an apostle, and might have been the eldest, and was appointed to take the lead on all occasions where the whole body of the apostles were present. He was, as it were, the foreman of the apostolic jury.

2. ANDREW, the brother of Peter. He was a native of Bethsaida, and was a fisherman, as well as his brother. He had been a follower of John the Baptist. It is said that he preached in Scythia, and was crucified in Patræa. The cross on which he suffered was of a peculiar shape, like the letter X, and he was fastened to it by ropes in order to make his death the more lingering.

3. JAMES, the son of Zebedee, who was frequently selected by Jesus, along with Peter and John, to be witnesses of his transfiguration and agony, and of some of his more special miracles. He was murdered by Herod in the year 42, Acts xii. 2, and was the first of the Apostles who suffered martyrdom.

4. JOHN, the brother of James. He is called the beloved disciple. He lived to see the destruction of Jerusalem.

5. PHILIP, of Bethsaida, brother to Andrew, and probably also a fisherman. He preached in upper Asia, and died a martyr in Hierapolis.

6. BARTHOLOMEW. He was most likely the same as Nathanael, who is mentioned in John i. 45-51. The following reasons, in

deed, may render this certain:-1st, BarNathanael is never mentioned by the other tholomew is never mentioned by John, and evangelists; but while Philip and Nathanael are put together by John, chapter i. 45, Philip and Bartholomew are put together by the rest, Matth. x. 3; Mark iii. 18; Luke vi. 14; Acts i. 13. 2dly, In John xxi. 1, 2, Nathanael is mentioned, along with other of the apostles, who are there called "disciples," which word is evidently used there to denote the apostles, a word which John never uses in his gospel. 3dly, If Nathanael had not been an apostle already, he would have been the most suitable person to have succeeded Judas. 4thly, Bartholomew is only a patronymic name, signifying the son of Tolmai, as Barjona, the patronymic name of Peter, signifies the son of Jonas; but Bartholomew must have had a distinct name of his own, which, for many reasons, may be decided to have been Nathanael.

7. THOMAS, called also Didymus. It was he who displayed such unbelief after the resurrection of Jesus as to his identity. He is said to have preached among the Parthians, and to have died a martyr.

8. MATTHEW, called here a publican. His call to be a disciple is related in chapter ix. 9. It is not known how he died.

9. JAMES, the son of Alpheus, surnamed the Less. It was he who gave the opinion at the council at Jerusalem, related in Acts xv. 13, and who, most probably, wrote the epistle which bears his name. In the Greek his name is Jacob, the same as the patriarch, but custom has appropriated the name of James to the apostle, and Jacob to the son of Isaac.

10. LEBBEUS, whose surname was Thaddeus. He was the same as Jude, the brother of James the Less, who wrote the short epistle which bears his name.

11. SIMON, the Canaanite, called also Zelotes. These two words are probably of the same signification, the former being derived from the Hebrew word which signifies zeal, and the latter from the Greek. He probably obtained the title from his great energy in preaching the gospel. Others think that he was called Canaanite from being an inhabitant of Cana in Galilee.

12. JUDAS ISCARIOT, he who betrayed Christ, called Iscariot, probably from the Hebrew Ish Kerioth, a man of Kerioth, which was a city belonging to the tribe of

Judah, Josh. xv. 25, from which it is likely that he came; or, as the Hebrew iscara signifies strangulation, it is thought by some that this name was given to him after his death, from the circumstance of his having hanged himself.

In surveying this catalogue there are many circumstances of a striking nature calculated to arrest our attention:

1st. The temporal condition and attainments of the apostles were remarkable. They were not men of learning, and could not therefore have been supposed to have spread their religion by talent or intellectual force. They were not wealthy, and could not be accused of inducing men by bribes to adopt their views. Nor were they men of rank and worldly power, so that the success of their preaching could not be traced to the force of influ

ence or authority. Such was the character and such were the circumstances connected with the first preachers of the gospel, that the success that attended them can only be accounted for on one principle-" Not by might, nor by power, but by the Spirit of

the Lord."

2dly. Some of the Apostles were brethren,

Peter and Andrew, James and John, and the other James and Lebbeus, and of these Peter was brought to Jesus through the instrumentality of Andrew. Believers in Christ will always desire that those who are related to them by the ties of nature may also be related by the ties of grace. And the kindest act which we can perform for the nearest relatives is to bring them to the Saviour.

3dly. There are some of the apostles of whose labours and history we know almost nothing. This may have been so ordered by the Holy Ghost, to show that ministers of the gospel are not to seek for earthly fame. How many of those whose names have been sent down to their posterity associated with the eulogies of history, have been the persecutors and wholesale murderers of mankind, whilst the benevolent exertions of the best friends of the human race have been suffered to sink into oblivion!

4thly. Of these men, John was called the beloved disciple, and Peter, James, and John, were, on several occasions, more particularly distinguished by our Lord than the rest. Christ loves all his people, but he loves some more than others. Probably John resembled him more than the rest in

the possession of that first fruit of the Spirit, "love," which was the prominent affection in the character of Jesus Christ, for Jesus loves those most, that resemble him most.

5thly. Amongst the apostles we find Judas, who was a traitor and had a devil. This might have been in order to show that no pure Christian society can exist in this world. There will always be some in every church who are unworthy. We should never, therefore, judge of the holiness of a church by the sinful characters of some of its ministers. Happy indeed, and highlyfavoured, is that church, in which not more than one-twelfth of her ministers are traitors to the sacred office they have assumed!

5. These twelve Jesus sent forth, and commanded them, saying, Go not into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans ye not:

enter

6. But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.

Here is the warrant of a gospel minister, he must be sent forth by Jesus Christ, and he must not go where his own judgment or inclination leads, but wherever the great Head of the Church commands. The prohibition contained in this passage was only temporary, for the apostles were afterwards commanded "to preach the gospel to every creature." There may be wise reasons, at one time, for adopting a certain course of conduct, which do not prevail at another. Let the believer, and especially every minister of the gospel, place implicit confidence in the infinite wisdom of Christ. Implicit and prompt obedience should be the watchword of every good and faithful soldier of the great Captain of our salvation. Probably our Lord's reasons for sending to the Jews first, were, in order that they might have no excuse for rejecting him, and to leave an example to his Church that those who are connected with us by any peculiar bonds of private or national relationship should be the first, though not the exclusive objects of our solicitude. The Jews had the first offer of the blessings of redemption, "for to them pertained the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the service of God, and the promises," but

10. Nor scrip for your journey, neither two coats, neither shoes, nor yet staves: for the workman is worthy of his meat.

This was a temporary command, applicable to the mission on which the disciples were now sent. By "gold, silver, or brass," we are to understand money: by a "scrip" is meant a bag, knapsack, or wallet, to hold provisions in. St. Mark, in relating this discourse, chap. vi. 8, 9, says that our Saviour desired the apostles "to be shod with sandals," and that they should take " a staff only." This apparent discrepancy, however, may easily be reconciled. Jesus does not forbid their wearing the sandals which they had on them, but prohibits their supplying themselves with more, which they should have to carry, and which would therefore be an incumbrance to them. Some of the apostles, also, might have had staves, and others might have been without them. To those who had them, he did not say that they should throw them away, but suffered them to take them, according to the text in Mark; to those who had none, he said that they should not spend time in procuring them, according to the passage in Matthew. But although this was a special and temporary command as to the letter, the spirit of it is always binding upon ministers of the gospel. They should never spend their time in providing their temporal support by occupations foreign from their sacred and important functions, unless where urgent and inevitable necessity seems to give them liberty by the voice of divine providence. For the apostles to have carried a scrip would seem as if they doubted the goodness of God in feeding them, and to have delayed in order to provide a staff would have seemed as if they doubted his mercy in protecting them. And so should ministers always avoid manifesting a want of reliance on the lovingkindness and faithfulness of God, especially when the very object of their preaching is to produce in others an unbounded confidence in the mercy and covenant truth of the great source of every good and perfect gift. They should take as their motto in reference to things temporal" Jehovah jireh," the Lord will provide. They should remember that they are "workmen" employed and sent by the great Head of the Church to do

his work, and that he considers himself hand, churches should remember the words bound for their support. And on the other of our Lord in this verse, that "the workman is worthy of his meat ;" and that, therefore, ministers have a divine right, founded upon this declaration, to their temporal support, and should never be reduced to the necessity of having recourse to any secular occupations in order to procure the means of comfortable subsistence. The rule which applies to this case is concisely this, that ministers should never labour for a maintenance, but should be supplied with a maintenance in order that they may labour in their high and important occupations.

11. And into whatsoever city or town ye shall enter, inquire who in it is worthy; and there abide till thence. ye go

Having given the apostles instructions as to the preparations for their journey, he now lays down rules for the journey itself. They were sent out as home-missionaries, and as such he prescribes to them valuable rules which all who undertake the same work should carefully study and attend to. The cities and towns of Judea occupied more of the ministerial attention of Christ and his apostles than the country districts, probably because there is generally more vice, immorality, and contempt of religion, to be met with in the former than in the latter. Where the disease rages with the greatest virulence, there the good physician will always be found to devote the greatest amount of attention. The apostles are here directed to inquire, in any city or town they enter, "Who is worthy?" that is, who is worthy to enjoy the privilege of entertaining the messenger of salvation? for it is a very great privilege for men to be permitted to receive into their house those whom God sends forth laden with the blessings and promises of the everlasting covenant, with a full and clear command to diffuse these blessings amongst all who will only receive them. They were not to inquire who was rich and able to give them a sumptuous entertainment, or a splendid lodging, but simply who was worthy. But of whom could they make this inquiry? of any one they met; for the Lord's people are a peculiar people, and generally marked out and distinguished by the