go and bring the children of Israel out of Egypt, "Moses said unto him, Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh, and that I should bring forth the children of Israel out of Egypt"?" so when our Lord bade his apostles go and bring all nations out of their idolatries and superstitions into the profession of his religion, the apostles certainly could not but wonder at it, and say, at least within themselves, Who are we, a company of poor, weak, and illiterate men, that we should go to all nations, that we should bring them off from the religions of their forefathers, and that we should ever persuade the world to believe in a crucified Christ? This our Lord foresaw, and, therefore, as God answered Moses, saying, "Certainly I will be with thee;" so does our Saviour here encourage his apostles, saying, "And, behold, I am with you alway, even to the end of the world."

Words of very great importance to us all, to the whole Church of God, especially to the governors of it, and to those that administer the word and sacraments in it; forasmuch as all the success that can be expected from the execution of any ecclesiastical function depends upon the performance of this promise, which, therefore, our Lord has so worded, that there is not a word in it but what hath its emphasis, and is much to be observed by us; as he himself seems to intimate by prefacing it with idou, Behold; take special notice of what I now say unto you.

Hence, therefore, we shall, first, very briefly consider the words apart, that so we may come to the better understanding of the whole. First, saith he, "I am with you;" I the eternal Son of God, and now become the Son of man too; I, who have the angels at my beck, and make the devils tremble with my looks; I, who in your sight have caused the storms to cease, the blind to see, the lame to walk, the dead to rise, only with a word of my mouth; I, who was delivered for your offences, but am now raised again for

9 Exod. iii. 11.

your justification; I, who have all power both in heaven and earth committed to me; "I am with you." Not, I will be with you; but, I am with you, in the present tense; minding them thereby of his Divine essence and power, to which all things are present. And, therefore, as he elsewhere saith, "Before Abraham was, I am '," so here, "I am with you at all times, to the end of the world," as really as at this present.

And then it follows, I am uɛ0' vuv, "with you," my apostles. For that these words were spoken, and this promise made, only to the apostles, is plain from that the eleven only are said to be present at this time 2. And that besides this promise is made only to those who now received commission to go and convert all nations to the Christian faith, to baptize and teach mankind the commands of Christ; which commission being granted only to the apostles, this promise also, annexed to it, must needs belong to them only. But then we must observe likewise, that as it belongs to them only, so it belongs to them all alike. "I am with you," saith he, not with Peter only, or any one or more of you, but with you all equally, one as well as another. Yea, saith he, "I am with you," máσaç ras nuépaç, "every day;" wheresoever you are, whensoever you do any thing towards the executing the commission which I have now given you, I am with you in the doing of it. And that too, ἕως τῆς συντελείας τοῦ αἰῶνος, "to the very end of the world;" that is, so long as I have a Church upon earth, which shall be till my coming again to judge the world: all this while I promise to be with you, and therefore as long as the world shall last.

The words being thus explained apart, that we may rightly apprehend our Lord's meaning in the whole, there are two things to be considered:

First, In what sense the apostles were to continue to the end of the world.

Secondly, In what sense our Saviour here promises to be with them all that while.

1 John viii. 58.

2 Matt. xxviii. 16.

As for the first, it is plain, that our Saviour here supposeth that apostles were to continue upon earth to the end of the world; for otherwise it would be impossible for him to be with them so long, and, by consequence, to perform this promise to them. But it is as plain likewise, that the persons to whom our Saviour speaks these words were not to be here so long, being all long ago dead. And, therefore, I do not see how we can possibly understand the words in any other sense than this, even that our Lord spake them to his apostles, not as private persons, as Peter, James, or John, &c., but as apostles, as persons now placed by him in an office that should always continue in his Church. So that the promise is made not so much to the persons of the apostles, as to the office apostolical; or at least to their persons only as vested with that office, and by consequence to all persons, to the end of the world, that should ever have that office conferred upon them.

For our better understanding of this, we must consider what it is properly to be an apostle of Christ, or wherein the office purely apostolical consisted. For which we must know, that those whom the Scriptures, and we from them, call apostles, had many extraordinary privileges granted to them, which were not essential to their office, not peculiar to them as apostles, but common to them with other disciples, and, therefore, were to die with them. As for example, Were they called immediately by Christ himself? So were the seventy, who were the ear and eye witnesses of what Christ taught and did. So were many others as well as they. Were they divinely inspired to speak all manner of languages; to foretell things to come; to work miracles to confirm their doctrine? So were they which were no apostles, as well as they that were. And, therefore, such things as these cannot be looked upon as any part of the apostolical office, but only as extraordinary favours and privileges vouchsafed to the persons of the apostles.

But the office properly apostolical consisted only in

such things as had an immediate reference to the propagating, edifying, and governing of the Church in all ages. Indeed our Saviour himself gives the apostles a particular description of their office in the very commission he here grants them for the execution of it; commanding them to convert all nations to his religion, to administer the sacraments to them, and to teach them all things that he had commanded them: under which is contained whatsoever is necessary to the instruction and government of his Church in all ages; as the ordaining persons to do it, censuring those who refuse instruction, comforting and encouraging those who receive it, and the like. This was properly the office apostolical; which, therefore, was not to die with the persons of the apostles, but was to be transmitted by them to all after-ages, as our Lord himself intimates in the very description of it. For he here bids his apostles go and make all nations his disciples; which, it is plain, the persons he spake these words to neither did, nor ever could accomplish, being to continue, as we know they did, but a little while upon earth; wherein it was impossible for them to go over all nations; much more to persuade them all to embrace the Christian faith. And, therefore, this command itself, as well as the promise, must needs be so understood, as to be given not only to the persons of the apostles then present, but to all that should succeed them in that office to the end of the world. So that from this very command we reasonably conclude that these words were meant not only of the apostles themselves, but of their successors in that office all along, until all nations have received the Gospel of Christ: much more if we consider the promise annexed to it, "And, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world;" which cannot possibly be fulfilled, unless there be apostles, or persons vested with the apostolical office, alway unto the end of the world.

Hence, therefore, it was, that the apostles, having received this command and promise from our Lord, and understanding from thence that it was his pleasure

that they should transfer their office to all future ages, by ordaining others into it, took care to do it. For besides the eleven, to whom these words were spoken, we find Matthias, Paul, and Barnabas, admitted into the same office, and expressly called "apostles" as well as they. So is Epaphroditus, bishop of Philippi, called by St. Paul himself. And if we consult the ancient records of the Church, we shall there find, that James bishop of Jerusalem, Mark of Alexandria, Timothy of Ephesus, Titus of Crete, and Clemens of Rome, were all called "apostles." And as Theodoret observes, τοὺς νῦν καλουμένους Επισκόπους ̓Αποστόλους wvóμalov, "those which we now call bishops, the primitive Christians called apostles." And so, indeed, may all bishops, rightly ordained, be called, as having the same office in the Church which the apostles had. And, therefore, the office which Matthias was chosen into is called έTIOкоT", "the office of a bishop ." Hence St. Cyprian sometimes calls bishops by the name of apostles, sometimes apostles by the name of bishops. And the reason is, because bishops, as St. Jerome expresses it, "apostolorum locum tenent," they "supply the place of the apostles." Hence also, not only St. Cyprian, but Irenæus and Tertullian assert bishops to be the apostles' successors, and reckon up the succession of several of them from the apostles themselves. And St. Jerome himself, having affirmed all bishops, of whatsoever city, great or small, to be "ejusdem meriti, ejusdem et sacerdotii," he adds, "cæterum omnes apostolorum successores sunt," "they are all successors to the apostles."

And, therefore, whatsoever our Lord said to the apostles, as such, all succeeding apostles, or bishops, are obliged by it, as well as they as St. Cyprian observed long ago, saying, "Christus qui dicit ad apostolos, ac per hoc ad omnes præpositos qui apostolis vicariâ ordinatione succedunt:" for the office is the same now as it was then. So that in the apostles'

3 Phil. ii. 25.

Acts i. 20.