It appears to me, by the accounts we have of Jesus, that he had two distinct offices:  one, as the Messias particularly promised to the Jews; another, as he was to be the great high priest of the world.  With respect to the first office, he is called [Heb. 3:1] the apostle of the Hebrews; the [Rom. 15:8] minister of the circumcision; and says himself, [Matt 15:24] I am not sent, but unto the lost sheep of the house of Isreal.  Accordingly, when he sent out his Apostles in his lifetime to preach, he expressly forbids them to go to the Gentiles or Samaritans; but go, [Matt. 10:6] says he, to the lost sheep of the House of Israel.  Christ continued in the discharge of this office during the time of his natural life, till he was finally rejected by the Jews.  And it is observable, that the last time he spoke to the people according to St. Matthew’s account, he solemnly took leave of them, and closed his commission.  He had been long among them publishing glad tidings; but when all his preaching, all his miracles, had proved to be in vain, the last thing he did was, to denounce the woes they had brought on themselves.  The 23d chapter of St. Matthew recites these woes; and at the end of them Christ takes this passionate leave of Jerusalem:  “Oh, Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!  Behold, your house is left unto you desolate.  For I say unto you, Ye shall not see me henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.”  It is remarkable, that this passage, as recorded by St. Matthew and St. Luke, twice over, is determined, by the circumstances, to refer to the near approach of his own death, and the extreme hatred of the Jews to him:  and therefore those words, Ye shall not see me henceforth, are to be dated from the time of his death, and manifestly point out the end of his particular mission to them.  From the making this declaration, as it stands in St. Matthew, his discourses are to his disciples, and they chiefly relate to the miserable and wretched condition of the Jews, which was now decreed, and soon to be accomplished.  Let me now ask, Whether, in this state of things, any farther credentials of Christ’s commission to the Jews could be demanded or expected?  He was rejected, his commission was determined, and with it the fate of the nation was determined also:  what use then of more credentials?  As to appearing to them after his resurrection, he could not do it consistently with his own prediction, Ye shall see me no more, till ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.  The Jews were not in this disposition after the resurrection, nor are they in it yet. 
        The resurrection was the foundation of Christ’s new
commission, which extended to all the world.  Then it was he declared, that all power was given