Our Lord had previously said, “Therefore, doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again. No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father,” John x. 17, 18. In like manner, Jesus said to Martha, “I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: and whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die,” John xi. 25, 26. How strikingly contrasted was the language of the apostles! In the case of the lame man laid at the beautiful gate of the temple, Peter said, “Silver and gold have I none; but such as I have give I thee: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk.” These words, uttered on the first miracle of the apostles, expressed the great principle on which they performed every other, and the spirit in which they wrought all their wondrous deeds. The apostle, like the prophet, laid down his authority, and resigned his commission with his life; but our Lord Jesus Christ not only exercised his power amidst his last sufferings and death, but extended his authority beyond the grave. “I lay down my life of myself; no man taketh it from me; I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again.” And though he said, “This commandment have I received of my Father,” he also added, “I and my Father are one”--“thereby,” as the Jews distinctly perceived, “making himself equal with God.” Even the diversity of gifts distributed among primitive saints, proved the infinite resources of Him by whom they were granted. Though bestowed by the Holy Spirit, they were purchased by the blood and supplied by the grace of the Son of God. Speaking of the outpouring of the Spirit, and its results, Jesus said, “He shall receive of mine, and shall show it unto you.” Most emphatically does he lay claim to all the fulness of the Godhead, when he adds, “All things that the Father hath are mine: therefore said I, that he shall take of mine, and show it unto you.” Thus, the gift of tongues, of miracles, of prophecy, and of interpretation, proved the infinite power of the Giver, on whose will the extent and diversity of the operation alike depended. Some had one power and some another: but all these wrought that one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he would. 1 Cor. xii. 11.