It is the observation of Sir Isaac Newton, in explaining the prophetic language, that the sun's being darkened, the moon's being turned into blood, and the falling of stars, are put for the ceasing of a kingdom or dissolution thereof. Agreeably to this observation, we find, that when the destruction of Babylon is threatened, it is thus expressed; The stars of the heaven, and the constellations thereof, shall not give their light the sun shall be darkened in his going forth, and the moon shall not cause her light to shine. I will shake the heavens, &c.* In terms very similar to these has Jesus, in the gospel of Matthew, foretold the destruction of the Jewish state, "Immediately after the tribulation of those days," say he, "shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken." After two such examples, I conceive there will be found little difficulty in supposing, that this language of the prophet Joel was intended to express the total overthrow of the civil and ecclesiastical polity of the Jews. If we examine the several parts of this prophecy separately, and suppose that one phrase was intended to express one thing, and another phrase another, we shall be misled. The whole is to be taken together, and regarded as a highly figurative prediction of a great approaching national calamity.

21. And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.

They shall be delivered from those calamities, to which the rest of the Jews shall be exposed. To call upon the name of the Lord, is a phrase describing a religious person, and the meaning is, that the worshipper of God, according to the gospel of his Son, shall escape. Accordingly we find from Eusebius, that the Christians, in consequence of a particular revelation, or, more probably, of the warnings already given them by Christ, escaped from Jerusalem, when they saw it about to be besieged, and hereby saved themselves from the calamities which fell upon that devoted city. Peter, having shown that a plentiful effusion of miraculous gifts had been foretold, proceeds to show how they came to be bestowed upon them in particular.

22. Ye men of Israel, hear these words; Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you, "Jesus of Nazareth proved unto you to be a man from God," by miracles, wonders, and signs, which God did by him, in the midst of you, as ye yourselves also know :

In these words you may observe, that he speaks of Nazareth as the native place of Jesus, and gives him no higher title than that of a man from God, or one who had a divine mission, and was proved to be so authorized by the miracles which he wrought.

* Isaiah xiii. 10, 13.

23. Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and fore-knowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified* and slain ;

It was an aggravation of the sufferings of Christ, that he was put to death by those enemies of the nation and of true religion, the Romans, who, in the language of the Jews, were called sinners or ungodly men. God however was justified in permitting such an event; for it was foreseen by him, and allowed to take place for wise and important ends.

24. Whom God hath raised up, having loosed the pains of death, "the bonds of the grave :"

This is a quotation from the Psalms, in the Greek version, which was commonly in use in Judæa at this time; but the Hebrew word signifies either bonds or pains, and the authors of that version preferred the latter.†

Because it was not possible that he should be holden of it.

There was no natural impossibility in the case, but it was impossible, because God had foretold that he should be raised from the dead, as Peter proceeds to show in the next verse.

REFLECTIONS.

1. THE prophecy of Joel, as fulfilled under the Christian dispensation, affords an illustrious proof of the liberal and impartial goodness of the great Father of mankind. For he not only bestows miraculous powers in a great variety of forms, in gifts of tongues, by enabling persons who had never learnt foreign languages, to speak them fluently, in powers of healing, in foretelling future events, in the communication of knowledge of persons or things, by dreams, by visions, and in a variety of other ways, which it is impossible for us at the present day, perhaps, exactly to ascertain, yet such as appeared to his wisdom best adapted to the purposes of divine revelation; but also confers them on all classes of persons, on the young as well as the old; the poor as well as the rich; not excepting men-servants, and women-servants, who were, at that time much more degraded than at present, being slaves, the absolute property of their masters. How great is the condescension of the Almighty, in noticing these outcasts of human society how highly are they exalted by these testimonies of his regard! Slaves are raised to the dignity of prophets, and of inspired messengers of the divine will to mankind.

* Mr. Wakefield translates, "when ye had mocked," reading gowaiCevles.
† Pearce.

Let Christians, then, of the meanest condition rejoice. The disgrace of that condition is removed; for God has honoured persons in it with the gift of miraculous powers; hereby assuring them, that they are as much the objects of his regard, as the rich and great; and that, if they take the same pains to serve and please him, according to the advantages which they possess, they shall have the same share in his favour, both now and for ever.

Let those who are distinguished by wealth or honours, learn hence, not to despise their poorer brethren, but draw from this important event the inference suggested by the apostle Paul, that in Christ Jesus there is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither bond nor free, male nor female; that these distinctions are overlooked, that all are upon a footing of equality, and the meanest and weakest treated with the same degree of respect and affection as the greatest.

2. We see that the faith of those who believe Jesus to be a human being is established on a scriptural foundation for it corresponds with the language of an apostle, who calls him a man from God, after his resurrection and ascension, and after that apostle had received the Holy Spirit, and would have learnt to correct any mistakes respecting the person of Christ into which he might be supposed to have fallen. The crime which he imputes to the Jews, is not, that they had put to death an angel or superangelic being in human shape, much less the Creator of the world; but a man from God, or a divine messenger, proved to be so by a great variety of miracles. Had their guilt been attended with that higher aggravation, no doubt Peter would have mentioned it at this time, when he was endeavouring to impress them with the beinousness of their crime, as a ground for apprehending the approach of divine vengeance, and a motive for immediate repentance. Let no one, therefore, be ashamed of this faith, or afraid to avow it in the most public manner; nor let any one presume to reproach him who does so, with degrading his Master. He follows the example of inspired teachers, and the best friends of Jesus, who, when they speak in plain terms, devoid of metaphor, always represent him as a man.

3. We learn hence, what strong evidence we have for the resurrection of Jesus. Not more that six weeks after the event, in the very place where he had been put to death, in the presence of many persons who had been witnesses of the fact, (if their hands had not actually been stained with his blood,) Peter boldly asserts his resurrection, and declares that he and eleven other persons were witnesses to it, without any one venturing to contradict or oppose him. What better foundation can we have for our faith, than the testimony of friends and the silence of enemies ?

PETER proceeds to show that other prophecies were likewise fulfilled in the history of Jesus of Nazareth, besides that of Joel, and particularly in his resurrection from the dead.

25. For David speaketh concerning him; I fore

saw," I saw, "I "* the Lord always before my face; for he is on my right hand, that I should not be moved :

If these words be regarded as the language of David, applied to himself, they may mean that, although banished to a foreign land by Saul, his inveterate enemy and persecutor, and in great trouble, yet having always made it his object to please God, he should still maintain his confidence in him, and hope to be rescued from danger, and to be preserved for the great object of his wishes, the succession to the throne. But considering David as personating Christ, as the apostle does, they may signify that, seeing the presence and favour of God would be with him at all times, he would have no reason to despair of the divine aid in the most unpromising circumstances, even when reduced to the grave.

26. Therefore did my heart rejoice, and my tongue was glad moreover also my flesh shall rest in hope:

66

27. Besause thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, my life in the grave," neither wilt thou suffer thy Holy One to see corruption.

"Thou wilt not leave my life in the grave." The word we translate soul, signifies life also. Thus in the injunction prohibiting murder, it is said, at every man's brother will I require the life of man; in the original, it is the soul of man. And the ransom of life is the ransom of the soul. Also the word which we translate hell, signifies more propprly the mansions of the dead, or any place under the surface of the globe, whether that surface be land or water, and consequently the grave. Indeed, I believe this was the original signification of the English word, hell, a covered place, although it be now used universally to express the place of punishment for the wicked. It ought not, therefore, to have been used on the present occasion, where it gives countenance to the gross mistake which some have fallen into, that the soul of Christ at death descended into the place of the damned.

"Neither wilt thou suffer thine holy one to see corruption." In the Hebrew it is holy ones, the plural number being used instead of the singular. In many copies, however, the Hebrew corresponds with the Greek; and Dr. Kennicot thinks they all did so originally, but were afterwards intentionally corrupted, in order to destroy the force of the prophecy. However this may be, the phrase, holy one, is of the same import as saint, which frequently has no reference to moral character, but merely to being in a covenant or privileged state. So all Israelites are called saints or holy ones. If this phrase was intended for Christ, it denotes the purity and excellence of his character. To see corruption, is the same thing as being corrupted or perishing, as to see death, is to die. "My flesh shall rest in hope."

Flesh does not seem here to be

* Pearce. + Taylor's Concordance.

+ Ibid.

Diss. i. p. 496.

put for the body, in opposition to the mind; but for the life, as it is afterwards explained, or for the whole man. Thus, all flesh signifies not all human bodies, but all mankind, or beings consisting of both principles. If these words, then, are capable of any application to David, they express his strong confidence in God, that, notwithstanding the dangers which now surround him from his enemies, he should not be suffered to die, nor left to perish in the grave: but should still live, to experience the goodness of God in general, and particularly in bestowing upon him the crown of Israel. Considered as the words of Christ, they express his persuasion that, although brought to the grave, he should be raised thence to life, without remaining there long enough to be corrupted, and the joy and gratitude which he felt in the prospect of such an event.

28. Thou hast made known to me the ways of life thou shalt make me full of joy with thy counte

nance.

"Thou hast made known to me the ways of life." This, if applied to David, must mean that God had instructed him how to preserve his life, and to avoid the snares of death. Considered as the words of Christ, they mean, Thou hast made me acquainted with the way of returning to life, by raising me from the dead.

"Thou shall make me full of joy with thy countenance." In the sixteenth Psalm the words are, "In thy presence is fullness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore." The words of Peter, however, express nearly the same meaning, the joy to be derived from the countenance or presence of God.

In the case of David, this joy must be the pleasure to be derived from approaching God in the tabernacle, in which the king of Israel seems to have placed the chief delight of his life. In regard to Christ, it is the pleasure arising from a sense of the divine presence and favour, after he disappeared from the world.

There are other variations from the original in this quotation, besides those above-mentioned, which I have not noticed, because they appear to be immaterial.

29. Brethren, I may freely speak unto you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his sepulchre is with us unto this day.

30. Therefore being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him, to set up of the fruit of his loins upon his throne ;

31. He, seeing this before, spake of the resurrection of Christ, that his life was not left in the grave, neither his flesh did see corruption.

32. This Jesus God hath raised up, whereof we all are witnesses.