d Ver. 24. e Luke xxiv. 48.

This Jesus.-Peter, having shown that it was predicted that the Messiah would rise, now affirms that it was done in the case of Jesus. If it was a matter of prophecy, all objection to the truth of the doctrine was taken away, and the only question was, whether there was evidence that this had been done. The proof of this Peter now alleges, and offers his own testimony, and that of his brethren, to the truth of this great and glorious fact. We all are witnesses.-It seems probable that Peter refers here to the whole one hundred and twenty who were present, and who were ready to attest it in any manner. The matter which was to be proved was, that Jesus was seen alive after he had been put to death. The apostles were appointed to bear witness of this. And we are told by Paul, (1 Cor. xv. 6,) that he was seen by more than five hundred brethren, i. e. Christians, at one time. The hundred and twenty assembled on this occasion were doubtless part of the number, and were ready to attest this. This was the proof that Peter alleged; and the strength of this proof was, and should have been, perfectly irresistible. (1.) They had seen him themselves. They did not conjecture it, or reason about it; but they had the evidence on which men act every day, and which must be regarded as satisfactory-the evidence of their own senses. (2.) The number was such they could not be imposed on. If one hundred and twenty persons could not prove a plain matter of fact, nothing could be established by testimony; there could be no way of arriving at any facts. (3.) The thing to be established was a plain matter. It was not that they saw him rise. That they never pretended. Impostors would have done thus. But it was that they saw him, talked, walked, ate, drank with him, being alive, after he had been crucified. The fact of his death was matter of Jewish record; and no one called it in question. The only fact for Christianity to make out was, that he was seen alive afterwards; and this was attested by many witnesses. (4.) They had no interest in deceiving the world in this thing. There was no prospect of pleasure, wealth, or honour, in doing it. (5.) They offered them selves now as ready to endure any sufferings, or to die, in attestation of the truth of this event.

VER. 33. Therefore, f being by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, he hath shed forth this which ye now see and hear.

f Chap. v. 31. Phil. ii. 9.

g John xvi. 7, 13. Chap. i. 14. h Chap. x. 45. Eph. iv. 8.

Therefore, being by the right hand. The right hand, among the Hebrews, was often used to denote power; and the expression here means, not that he was exalted to the right hand of God, but by his power. He was raised from the dead by his power, and borne to heaven, triumphant over all his enemies. The use of the word right hand to denote power, is common in the Scriptures. Job xl. 14, "Thine own right hand can save thee." Psa. xvii. 7, "Thou savest by thy right hand them that trust in thee." (Psa. xviii. 35; xx. 6; xxi. 8; xliv. 3; lx. 5, &c.) Exalted. --Constituted King and Messiah in heaven. Raised up from his condition of humiliation to the glory which he had with the Father before the world was. (John xvii. 5.) And having received, &c.-The Holy Ghost was promised to the disciples before his death. (John xiv. 26; xv. 26; xvi. 13—15.) It was expressly declared, (1.) That the Holy Ghost would not be given, except the Lord Jesus should return to heaven, (John xvi. 7;) and, (2.) That this gift was in the power of the Father, and that he would send him. (John xv. 26.) This promise was now fulfilled, and those who witnessed the extraordinary scene before them could not doubt that it was the effect of divine power. Hath shed forth this, &c.-This power of speaking different languages, and declaring the truth of the gospel. In this way Peter accounts for the remarkable events before them. It could not be produced by new wine. (Ver. 15.) It was expressly foretold. (Ver. 16-21.) It was predicted that Jesus would rise. (Ver. 22-31.) The apostles were witnesses that he had risen, and that he had promised that the Holy Spirit should descend; and the fulfilment of this promise was a rational way of accounting for the scene before them. It was unanswerable; and the effect on those who witnessed it was such as might be expected.

VER. 34. For David is not ascended into the heavens but he saith himself, The LORD said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand,

35. Until I make thy foes thy footstool.

i Psa. cx. 1. Matt. xxii. 44. For David is not ascended into the heavens.— That is, David has not risen from the dead, and ascended to heaven. This further shows that Psa. xvi. could not refer to David, but must refer to the Messiah. Great as they esteemed David, and much as they were accustomed to apply these expressions of the Scripture to him, yet they could not be applicable to him. They must refer to some other being; and especially that passage which Peter now proceeds to quote. It

kind. It answers precisely to our word "compunction." It implies also the idea of sudden, as well as acute grief. In this case it means, that they were suddenly and deeply affected with anguish and alarm at what Peter had said. The causes of their grief may have been these: (1.) Their sorrow that the Messiah had been put to death by his own countrymen. (2.) Their deep sense of guilt in having done this. There would be mingled here a remembrance of ingratitude, and a consciousness that they had been guilty of murder of the most aggravated and horrid kind, that of having killed their own Messiah. (3.) The fear of his wrath. He was still alive, exalted to be their Lord, and intrusted with all power. They were afraid of his vengeance; they were conscious that they deserved it; and they supposed that they were exposed to it. (4.) What they had done could not be undone. The guilt remained; they could not wash it out. They had imbrued their hands in the blood of innocence; and the guilt of that oppressed their souls. This expresses the usual feelings which sinners have when they are convicted of sin. Men and brethren.-This was an expression denoting an affectionate earnestness. Just before this they mocked the disciples, and charged them with being filled with new wine. (Ver. 13.) They now treated them with respect and confidence. The views which sinners have of Christians and Christian ministers are greatly changed when they are under a conviction for sin. Before that, they may deride and oppose them: then, they are glad to be taught by the obscurest Christian; and even cling to a minister of the gospel as if he could save them by his own power. What shall we do? What shall we do to avoid the wrath of this crucified and exalted Messiah? They were apprehensive of his vengeance, and they wished to know how to avoid it. Never was a more important question asked than this. It is the question which all convicted sinners ask. It implies an apprehension of danger; a sense of guilt, and a readiness to yield the will to the claims of God. This was the same question asked by Paul, (Acts ix. 6:) "Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?" and by the jailer, (Acts xvi. 30,) "He.... came trembling.... and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved?" The state of mind in this case-the case of a convicted sinner-consists in, (1.) A deep sense of the evil of the past life; remembrance of a thousand crimes, perhaps before forgotten; a pervading and deepening conviction that the heart, and conversation, and life has been evil, and deserves condemnation. (2.) Apprehension about the justice of God; alarm when the mind looks upward to him, or onward to the day of death and judgment. (3.) An earnest wish, amounting sometimes to agony, to be delivered from this sense of condemnation, and this apprehension of the future. (4.) A readiness to sacrifice all to the will of God, to surrender the governing purpose of the mind, and to do what he requires. In this state the soul is prepared to receive the offers of eternal life; and when the sinner comes to this, the offers of mercy meet his case, and he yields himself to the Lord Jesus, and finds peace.

In regard to this discourse of Peter, and this

(3.)

No

remarkable result, we may observe, (1.) That this is the first discourse which was preached after the ascension of Christ, and is a model which the ministers of religion should imitate. (2.) It is a clear and close argument. There is no ranting, no declamation, nothing but truth presented in a clear and striking manner. It abounds with proof of his main point; and supposes that his hearers were rational beings, and capable of being influenced by truth. Ministers have no right to address men as incapable of reason and thought; nor to imagine that, because they are speaking on religious subjects, that therefore they are at liberty to speak nonsense. Though these were eminent sinners, and had added to the crime of murdering the Messiah that of deriding the Holy Ghost and the ministers of the gospel, yet Peter reasoned with them coolly, and endeavoured to convince them of their guilt. Men should be treated as endowed with reason, and as capable of seeing the force and beauty of the great truths of religion. (4.) The arguments of Peter were adapted to make this impression on their minds, and to impress them deeply with the sense of their guilt. He proved to them that they had been guilty of putting the Messiah to death; that God had i raised him up; and that they were now in the midst of the scenes which established one strong proof of the truth of what he was saying. class of truths could have been so well adapted to make an impression of their guilt as these. (5.) Conviction for sin is a rational process on a sinner's mind. It is the proper state produced by a view of the past sins. It is suffering truth to make an appropriate impression; suffering the mind to feel as it ought to feel. The man who is guilty ought to be willing to see and confess it. It is no disgrace to confess an error, or to feel deeply when we know we are guilty. grace consists in a hypocritical desire to conceal crime; in the pride that is unwilling to avow it; in the falsehood which denies it. To feel it, and to acknowledge it, is the mark of an open and ingenuous mind. (6.) These same truths are adapted still to produce conviction for sin. The sinner's treatment of the Messiah should produce grief and alarm. He did not murder him; but he has rejected him: he did not crown him with thorns; but he has despised him: he did not insult him when hanging on the cross; but he has a thousand times insulted him since: he did not pierce his side with the spear; but he has pierced his heart by rejecting him, and contemning his mercy. For these things he should weep. the Saviour's resurrection he has also a deep interest. He rose as the pledge that we may rise: and when the sinner looks forward, he should remember that he must meet the ascended Son of God. The Saviour reigns; he lives, Lord of all. The sinner's deeds now are aimed at his throne, and his heart, and his crown. All his crimes are seen by his Sovereign; and it is not safe to mock the Son of God on his throne, or to despise him who will soon come to judgment. When the sinner feels these truths, he should tremble, and cry out, What shall I do? (7.) We see here how the Spirit operates in producing conviction of sin. It is not in an arbitrary

Dis

In

manner; it is in accordance with truth, and by the truth. Nor have we a right to expect that he will convict and convert men, except as the truth is presented to their minds. They who desire success in the gospel should present clear, striking, and impressive truth; for such only God is accustomed to bless. (8.) We have, in the conduct of Peter and the other apostles, a striking instance of the power of the gospel. Just before, Peter, trembling and afraid, had denied his Master with an oath. Now, in the presence of the murderers of the Son of God, he boldly charged them with their crime, and dared their fury. Just before, all the disciples forsook the Lord Jesus, and fled. Now, in the presence of his murderers, they lifted their voice, and proclaimed their guilt and danger, even in the city where he had been just arraigned and put to death. What could have produced this change, but the power of God? And is there not proof here, that a religion which produces such changes came from heaven?

VER. 38. Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ, for the remission of sins; and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.

p Luke xxiv. 47. Chap. iii. 19.

Then Peter said unto them.-Peter had been the chief speaker, though others had also addressed them. He now, in the name of all, directed the multitude what to do. Repent.-See Note, Matt. iii. 2. Repentance implies sorrow for sin as committed against God, with a purpose to forsake it. It is not merely a fear of the consequences, or of the wrath of God in hell. It is such a view of sin as evil in itself, as to lead the mind to hate it and forsake it. Laying aside all view of the punishment of sin, the true penitent hates it. Even if sin was the means of procuring him happiness; if it would promote his gratification, and be unattended with any future punishment, he would hate it and turn from it. The mere fact that it is evil, and that God hates it, is a sufficient reason why those who are truly penitent should hate it and forsake it. False repentance dreads the consequences of sin; true repentance dreads sin itself. These persons whom Peter addressed had been merely alarmed; they were afraid of wrath, and especially of the wrath of the Messiah. They had no true sense of sin as an evil, but were simply afraid of punishment. This alarm Peter did not regard as by any means genuine repentance. Such conviction of sin would soon wear off, unless repentance became thorough and complete. Hence he told them to repent, to turn from sin, to exercise sorrow for it as an evil and bitter thing, and to express their sorrow in the proper manner. We may learn here, (1.) That there is no safety in mere conviction for sin: it may soon pass off, and leave the soul as thoughtless as before. (2.) There is no goodness or holiness in mere alarm or conviction. The devils....tremble. A man may fear, who yet has a firm purpose to do evil if he can do it with impunity. (3.) Many are greatly troubled and alarmed who yet never

repent. There is no situation where souls are so easily deceived as here. Alarm is taken for repentance; trembling for godly sorrow; and the fear of wrath is taken to be the true fear of God. (4.) True repentance is the only thing in such a state of mind that can give any relief. An ingenuous confession of sin, a solemn purpose to forsake it, and a true hatred of it, is the only thing that can give the mind true composure. Such is the constitution of the mind, that nothing else will furnish relief. But the moment we are willing to make an open confession of guilt, the mind is delivered of its burden, and the convicted soul finds peace. Till this is done, and the hold on sin is broken, there can be no peace. (5.) We see here what direction is to be given to a convicted sinner. We are not to direct him to wait; nor to suppose that he is in a good way; nor to continue to seek; nor to call him a mourner; nor to take sides with him, as if God were wrong and harsh; nor to tell him to read, and search, and postpone the subject to a future time. We are to direct him to repent; to mourn over his sins, and to forsake them. Religion demands that he should at once surrender himself to God

by genuine repentance; by confession that God is right, and that he was wrong; and by a firm purpose to live a life of holiness. Be baptized.See Note, Matt. iii. 6. The direction which Christ gave to his apostles was, that they should baptize all who believed. (Matt. xxviii. 19. Mark xvi. 16.) The Jews had not been baptized; and a baptism now would be a profession of the religion of Christ, or a declaration made before the world that they embraced Jesus as their Messiah. It was equivalent to saying that they should publicly and professedly embrace Jesus Christ as their Saviour. The gospel requires such a profession; and no one is at liberty to withhold it. And a similar declaration is to be made to all who are inquiring the way to life. They are to exercise repentance; and then, without any unnecessary delay, to evince it in the ordinances of the gospel. If men are unwilling to profess religion, they have none. If they will not, in a proper way, show that they are truly attached to Christ, it is proof that they have no such attachment. Baptism is the application of water, as expressive of the need of purification, and as emblematic of the influences from God that can alone cleanse the soul. It is also a form of dedication to the service of God. In the name of Jesus Christ.-Not sig, but ii. The usual form of baptism is into the name of the Father, &c. sig. Here it does not mean to be baptized by the authority of Jesus Christ; but it means to be baptized for him and his service; to be consecrated in this way, and by this public profession, to him, and to his cause. The name of Jesus Christ means the same as Jesus Christ himself. To be baptized to his name is to be devoted to him. The word "name" is often thus used. And the profession which they were to make amounted to this: a confession of sins; a hearty purpose to turn from them; a reception of Jesus as the Messiah, and as their Saviour; and a determination to become his followers, and to be devoted to his service. Thus (1 Cor. x. 2,) to be baptized unto Moses, means to take

him as the leader and guide. It does not follow that in administering the ordinance of baptism they used only the name of Jesus Christ. It is much more probable that they used the form prescribed by the Saviour himself, (Matt. xxviii. 19;) though as the peculiar mark of a Christian is that he receives and honours Jesus Christ, this name is used here as implying the whole. The same thing occurs in Acts xix. 5. For the remission of sins.-Not merely the sin of crucifying the Messiah, but of all sins. There is nothing in baptism itself that can wash away sin. That can be done only by the pardoning mercy of God through the atonement of Christ. But baptism is expressive of a willingness to be pardoned in that way; and a solemn declaration of our conviction that there is no other way of remission. He who comes to be baptized, comes with a professed conviction that he is a sinner, that there is no other way of mercy but in the gospel, and with a professed willingness to comply with the terms of salvation, and receive it as it is offered through Jesus Christ. And ye shall receive, &c.-The gift of the Holy Ghost here does not mean his extraordinary gifts, or the power of working miracles. But it simply means, you shall partake of the influences of the Holy Ghost as far as they may be adapted to your case, as far as may be needful for your comfort, and peace, and sanctification. There is no evidence that they were all endowed with the power of working miracles; nor does the connexion of the passage require us thus to understand it. Nor does it mean that they had not been awakened by his influences. All true conviction is from him. (John xvi. 8-10.) But it is also the office of the Spirit to comfort, to enlighten, to give peace, and thus to give evidence that the soul is born again. To this, probably, Peter refers; and this all who are born again, and profess faith in Christ, possess. There is peace, calmness, joy; there is evidence of piety, and that evidence is the product of the influences of the Spirit. "The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace," &c. (Gal. v. 22-24.)

VER. 39. For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call.

For the promise. That is, the promise respecting the particular thing of which he was speaking the influences of the Holy Ghost. This promise he had adduced in the beginning of his discourse, (ver. 17,) and he now applies it to them. As the Spirit was promised to descend on Jews and their sons and daughters, it was applicable to them in the circumstances in which they then were. The only hope of lost sinners is in the promises of God; and the only thing that can give comfort to a soul that is convicted of sin is the hope that God will pardon and save. To you. To you Jews, even though you have crucified the Messiah. The promise had especial reference to the Jewish people. To your children. -In Joel, to their sons and daughters, who should, nevertheless, be old enough to prophesy.

Similar promises occur in Isa. xliv. 3, “I will pour my Spirit on thy seed, and my blessing on thine offspring," and Isa. lix. 21. In these and similar places, their descendants or posterity are denoted. It does not refer to children as children, and should not be adduced to establish the propriety of infant baptism, or as applicable particularly to infants. It is a promise, indeed, to parents that the blessings of salvation shall not be confined to parents, but shall be extended also to their posterity. Under this promise parents may be encouraged to train up their children for God; to devote them to his service; believing that it is the gracious purpose of God to perpetuate the blessings of salvation from age to age. To all.-To the whole race; not limited to Jews. Afar off. To those in other lands. It is probable that Peter here referred to the Jews who were scattered in other nations; for he does not seem yet to have understood that the gospel was to be preached to the Gentiles. See chap. x. Yet the promise was equally applicable to the Gentiles as the Jews; and the apostles were afterwards brought to understand it. (Acts x. Rom. x. 12, 14-20; xi.) The Gentiles are sometimes clearly indicated by the expression "afar off," (Eph. ii. 13, 17;) and they are represented as having been brought nigh by the blood of Christ. The phrase is equally applicable to those who have been far off from God by their sins and their evil affections. To them also the promise is extended, if they will return. Even as many, &c.-The promise is not to those who do not hear the gospel, nor to those who do not obey it; but it is to those to whom God in his gracious providence shall send it. He has the power and right to pardon. The meaning of Peter is, that the promise is ample, full, free; that it is fitted to all, and may be applied to all; that there is no defect or want in the provisions or promises; but that God may extend it to whomsoever he pleases. We see here how ample and full are the offers of mercy. God is not limited in the provisions of his grace; but the plan is applicable to all mankind. It is also the purpose of God to send it to all men; and he has given a solemn charge to his church to do it. We cannot reflect but with deep pain on the fact that these provisions have been made, fully made; that they are adapted to all men; and yet that by his people they have been extended to so small a portion of the human family. If the promise of life is to all, it is the duty of the church to send to all the message of eternal mercy.

VER. 40. And with many other words did he testify and exhort, saying, Save yourselves from this untoward generation.

Many other words. This discourse, though one of the longest in the New Testament, is but an outline. It contains, however, the substance of the plan of mercy; and is admirably arranged to obtain its object. Testify.-Bear witness to. He bore witness to the promises of Christianity, to the truths pertaining to the danger of sinners; and to the truth respecting the character of that generation. Exhort. He entreated them by arguments and promises. Save