no evidence that in the missionary journey which He contemplated when He
appointed the Seventy as His pioneers, He intended to confine His
labours to His kinsmen of the seed of Abraham. It is highly probable
that the Seventy were actually sent forth _from Samaria_, [45:4] and the
instructions given them apparently suggest that, in the circuit now
assigned to them, they were to visit certain districts lying north of
Galilee of the Gentiles. [45:5] The personal ministry of our Lord had
respect primarily and specially to the lost sheep of the house of
Israel, [45:6] but His conduct in this case symbolically indicated the
catholic character of His religion. He evinced His regard for the Jews
by sending no less than twelve apostles to that one nation, but He did
not Himself refuse to minister either to Samaritans or Gentiles; and to
shew that He was disposed to make provision for the general diffusion of
His word, He "appointed other seventy also, and sent them two and two
before His face into every city and place whither He himself would
come."

It is very clear that our Lord committed, in the first instance, to the
Twelve the organisation of the ecclesiastical commonwealth. The most
ancient Christian Church, that of the metropolis of Palestine, was
modelled under their superintendence; and the earliest converts gathered
into it, after His ascension, were the fruits of their ministry. Hence,
in the Apocalypse, the wall of the "holy Jerusalem" is said to have
"twelve foundations, and in them the names of the twelve apostles of the
Lamb." [46:1] But it does not follow that others had no share in
founding the spiritual structure. The Seventy also received a commission
from Christ, and we have every reason to believe that, after the death
of their Master, they pursued their missionary labours with renovated
ardour. That they were called apostles as well as the Twelve, cannot,
perhaps, be established by distinct testimony; [46:2] but it is certain,