remark. We will select a few instances, for the purpose of confirming it. The Lord frequently recognised the Apostles' imperfect apprehension of that which He had taught them. When He said unto them, "The Son of man is delivered into the hands of men, and they shall kill Him; and after that He is killed, He shall rise again the third day;" it is mmediately added, "They understood not that saying, and were afraid to ask Him."[1] Upon another occasion, when He treated of His passion more at large than He had previously done, we read that "they understood none of these things; and this saying was hid from them, neither knew they the things which were spoken."[2] Surely these are striking evidences that the disciples were not at this time fully enlightened upon some of the most conspicuous subjects of their Master's history and teachings. The reason was because they were not able to bear it.
But it may be observed, we ought not to expect from them a complete understanding of those things, until they were gifted with that Spirit which was to guide them into all truth. This is a very proper conclusion. The promise of this gift is generally considered to have been fulfilled upon the day of Pentecost; when, no doubt, a more enlightening influence was poured out upon them than that which they had previously experienced. Before this, the Lord had breathed on them, and said unto them, "Receive ye the Holy Spirit."[3] But, notwithstanding those advantages, it is evident that they still continued in much obscurity upon many points of great spiritual interest; and it is important to remark that they do not state any principle or propound any doctrine that the Lord Jesus Christ had not Himself previously announced. They frequently
