Celestial Empire; the seer of Patmos recognised them, and must have called to mind the sight that made this evening memorable for ever, when his soul saw that which made him write'I beheld in the midst of the Throne, a Lamb as it had been slain!'

V. The commission given to the disciples. 'Then said Jesus to them again, Peace be unto you as My Father hath sent Me, even so send I you. And when He had said this, He breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost: whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them; and whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained.' 1

First, take notice of the symbol. Signs of ideas in the spiritual world must ever be borrowed from forms in the material world. In accordance with this law, and by that extension of meaning from the material to the spiritual so familiar in the history of language, we find that both in the Hebrew and the Greek lexicons the word for breath becomes also the word for spirit. The act of breathing on the company was an outward and visible sign' pointing to a fresh impartation of that Divine life, otherwise called the influence of the Holy Spirit, now to be given for the first time; not indeed for the first time as a Divine energy in the human heart, but for the first time

1 John xx. 21-23.

as an energy working through the finished facts of the Gospel, and as the gift of Christ crucified; not to be given for the first time either, in the sense of being given immediately, then and there; but to be given for the first time in the dispensation which Christ was about formally to inaugurate.

The reasons for this interpretation are from two sources-first, from the immediate character of the disciples themselves, it is plain to us that they did not at once receive a new infusion of Divine influence, for they did not at once evince any higher spiritual life; they had no quickened courage. Seven days after this, we still find them shut up from fear of the Jews; they were still dull in perception, and the thrice repeated order to go into Galilee was as if it had never been spoken; they still clung to the conception of Messiah's earthly sovereignty, and, just before He ascended, they said to Him, 'Lord, wilt Thou not at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?' Not one recorded sentence, before the Day of Pentecost, shows that any one of them had any deeper insight into the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven.'

Other reasons may be submitted in support of this view-for instance, look at the words of our Lord addressed to them in parting, 'Behold, I send the promise of My Father upon you: but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued

with power from on high.' Look at another and more extended report of this final conversation, given in the opening chapter of the Acts of the Apostles, in the course of which He said, 'Ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you.'

1

Look at the reference to the gift of the Holy Spirit, in the account of the sermon at the Feast of Tabernacles: 'The Holy Spirit was not yet given, because that Jesus was not yet glorified.' Did not the glorification begin when He 'sat down at the right hand of God' We are instructed that, when He ascended up on high, He led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men

for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ.' Passages like these compel us to regard the gift of the Spirit, not as preparatory to, but as consequent upon the ascension, or glorification of Christ. The act of breathing on them, and at the same time saying, 'Receive ye the Holy Ghost,' may seem at first to be conclusive in proof of an immediate bestowment of the gift; but we may be allowed to think that this symbol employed by the Master, like those which sometimes His servants were inspired to use, pointed to the future, and

1 Luke xxiv. 49; Acts i. 8,

may be regarded as a symbol of an endowment yet to be conferred.

While, however, at the time of this symbol, the gift it indicated might be regarded as future, in one important sense it was present. For the Son of God to promise a boon is potentially the same thing as for Him to give it. When we hear Him say that He will do a thing, our souls exclaim, 'It is done!' And we might understand the spirit of His words on this occasion to be, I am doing this-I am now in the act of giving you the Spirit.' He had already set in motion the event that would thus culminate. The act of giving the Spirit might be said to have commenced when He began to say, 'I ascend,' though it was not fully developed until the Day of Pentecost. If we may with reverence say so, His great, practical meaning may have been something like this: 'Understand that I give the Holy Ghost; I, even I, and none other. The dispensation of the Spirit is Mine; it is alone achieved by My priestly interposition, and authorised by My broad seal.'

Notice the formula: 'Whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them; and whose soever sins ye retain they are retained.' 1 What is the import of this?

Not the same as that of the great utterance

1 John xx. 23.

first addressed to Peter, afterwards to the whole body of his colleagues,1 'I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.' To have the keys of a house, palace, or region, was to have supreme power therein. Among the Orientals a key borne upon the shoulder, broidered on the robe, or suspended from the girdle, was a well known badge of delegated authority. Sometimes a teacher was spoken of as 'having the keys,' and the delivery of a key was one of the ceremonies at the ordination of a scribe, but always with the same idea of authority. When he unlocked a dark sentence, his interpretation claimed acceptance as official and decisive, and the commentary was held to be as infallible as the text.

Having the power 'to bind' or 'to loose,' was the same thing as having the power of the keys. Doors in antiquity were fastened with cords, in binding or loosing which keys were used; instead of speaking about the opening or shutting a door, they would speak of binding or loosing it. It was the common phrase used with reference to the decisions of the Rabbis on questions submitted to their judgment. They

1 Matt, xvi. 19; xviii. 18.