CHRIST'S STEADFASTNESS OF PURPOSE. 259 of the dispute between the Jews and Samaritans as to the proper situation of the temple, which the Jews contended should be at Jerusalem, and the Samaritans on Mount Gerizim; and accordingly they had built one there. Hearing of the miracles of Jesus, and that He claimed to be the Messiah, the Samaritans might have hoped He would decide that they were in the right; but when they saw He was going to Jerusalem, and thus would decide in favour of the Jews, they resolved to have nothing to do with Him, and rejected Him. The fifty-fourth verse tells us of the rash and vehement zeal of James and John,-named by our Lord, "Boanerges," or sons of thunder, when He first ordained them to be Apostles. They might have been so called also on account of their energy and power in preaching the Gospel; but there is something very remarkable in the spirit exhibited by these two disciples on this occasion. We see also the gradually transforming power of the grace of God in John's character. Three times we have sins against charity recorded in the Gospels as committed by John. Once we find him and his brother asking to sit at Christ's right and left hand in His kingdom, and to be preferred before all the other Apostles; once we find Him forbidding a man to cast out devils, because he did not follow the Apostles. Here again we find him showing a fierce and cruel spirit against the Samaritan villagers for not receiving our Lord: yet this was the Apostle who proved at last most remarkable for preaching love and charity. No change is too great for the Lord to work. In the proposal of James and John there was zeal indeed, but not according to knowledge; there was zeal for the honour of Christ, justified and supported by a Scriptural example of no less a Prophet than Elijah. But the proposal of James and John was wrong and inconsiderate; they meant well, but they greatly erred. Facts like this in the Gospels are carefully recorded for our learning. It is possible to mean well and have good intentions, and yet to make most grievous mistakes in our actions. We must seek to have knowledge as well as zeal. Zeal without knowledge is an army without a general and a ship without a rudder. We must pray that we may understand how to make a right application of Scripture. The Word is no doubt "a light to our feet and a lantern to our path;" but it must be the Word rightly handled and properly applied. We should notice what a solemn rebuke our Lord gives to persecution carried on under colour of religion. The mission of the Son of man was to do good where men would receive Him, but never to do harm. His kingdom was to be extended by patient continuance in well-doing, by meekness and gentleness in suffering; but never by violence and severity. The disciples were forgetting the nature of that Spirit by whom they professed, as Christ's disciples, to be guided, and that all acts of a revengeful and violent character were grievous to Him. From our Lord's words in the fifty-eighth verse, we learn that he would have all that profess and call themselves Christians reminded that they must carry JAMES AND JOHN REBUKED. 261 the cross. He would have no man enlisted on false pretences. There is a work to be done, and many hard things to be endured, if we propose to follow Him; but this need not make us afraid to begin serving Christ, but it ought to make us begin carefully, humbly, and with much prayer for grace. Salvation He is ready without price. Grace to bestow, without money and by the way, and glory in the end, shall be given to every sinner who comes to Him. Master, to Thee we now would cleave, For soon must pass the "little while," Our names before the Father's throne. LVI. Christ's Appointment of the Seventy Disciples. ST. LUKE X. 1-9. house. 1 After these things the Lord | enter, first say, Peace be to this appointed other seventy also, and sent them two and two before his face into every city and place, whither he himself would come. 2 Therefore said he unto them, The harvest truly is great, but the labourers are few; pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he would send forth labourers into his harvest. 3 Go your ways: behold, I send you forth as lambs among wolves. 4 Carry neither purse, nor scrip, nor shoes and salute no man by the way. 6 And if the son of peace be there, your peace shall rest upon it: if not, it shall turn to you again. 7 And in the same house remain, eating and drinking such things as they give: for the labourer is worthy of his hire. Go not from house to house. 8 And into whatsoever city ye enter, and they receive you, eat such things as are set before you : 9 And heal the sick that are therein, and say unto them, The kingdom of God is come nigh unto 5 And into whatsoever house ye you. THESE verses relate a circumstance which is not recorded by any Gospel writer except St. Luke: that of our Lord's appointment of seventy disciples to go before His face, in addition to the twelve apostles. We do not know the names of any of these disciples: their subsequent history has not been revealed to us; but the instructions with which they are sent forth are deeply interesting, and deserve the close attention of all ministers and teachers of the Gospel. These seventy were appointed for a different purpose from the apostles. The apostles were to be with Jesus, APPOINTMENT OF THE SEVENTY DISCIPLES. 263 -to hear His instructions, to be witnesses of His miracles, His sufferings, His death, His resurrection and ascension; that they might then go and proclaim all these things to the world. The seventy were sent out to preach immediately, and chiefly where He Himself was about to come. They were to go into the villages and towns and prepare the way for His coming. Seventy was a favourite number amongst the Jews. The family of Jacob that came into Egypt consisted of seventy (Gen. xlvi. 27); the number of elders that Moses appointed to aid him was the same. The Jews supposed that the languages of the world were seventy; and the number of the Sanhedrim was seventy-two,―six being chosen out of every tribe of Israel. They were sent out two-and-two. There was much wisdom in this: they might sustain and comfort one another in their persecutions and trials. The first point in our Lord's charge to the seventy disciples is, the importance of prayer and intercession. This is the leading thought which opens our Lord's address. Before He tells His ambassadors what to do, He first bids them to pray. Prayer is one of the best and most powerful means of helping forward the cause of Christ in the world. It is within the reach of all who have the spirit of adoption. Not all believers have money to give to missions; very few have great intellectual gifts, or extensive influence among men: but all believers can pray for the success of the Gospel, and they ought to pray for it daily. "The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much." (James v. 16.) Prayer is one of the principal weapons |