He was described in the prophecies. Now He explained to them more fully
the arrangements of His Church, and now He commanded His apostles to go
and "teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of
the Son, and of the Holy Ghost." [31:3] Having assured the twelve of His
presence with His true servants even unto the end of the world, and
having led them out as far as Bethany, a village a few furlongs from
Jerusalem, "he lifted up his hands and blessed them. And it came to
pass, while he blessed them, he was parted from them, and carried up
into heaven." [31:4]

Thus closed the earthly career of Him who is both the Son of man and the
Son of God. Though He was sorely tried by the privations of poverty,
though He was exposed to the most brutal and degrading insults, and
though at last He was forsaken by His friends and consigned to a death
of lingering agony, He never performed a single act or uttered a single
word unworthy of His exalted and blessed mission. The narratives of the
evangelists supply clear internal evidence that, when they described the
history of Jesus, they must have copied from a living original; for
otherwise, no four individuals, certainly no four Jews, could have each
furnished such a portrait of so great and so singular a personage.
Combining the highest respect for the institutions of Moses with a
spirit eminently catholic, He was at once a devout Israelite and a
large-hearted citizen of the world. Rising far superior to the
prejudices of His countrymen, He visited Samaria, and conversed freely
with its population; and, whilst declaring that He was sent specially to
the seed of Abraham, He was ready to extend His sympathy to their
bitterest enemies. Though He took upon Him the form of a servant, there
was nothing mean or servile in His behaviour; for, when He humbled
Himself, there was ever about Him an air of condescending majesty.
Whether He administers comfort to the mourner, or walks upon the waves