Mark 16:17 - Coke's Commentary on the Holy Bible

These signs shall follow, &c.— It is very evident, that the word believe, in this place, must signify something different from that faith which in the preceding verse is required as indispensably necessary to salvation, namely, that faith of miracles whereof we spoke on Matthew 17:20. Besides his promise of his perpetual presence and succours, Matthew 28:20 our Lord here assures his disciples, that through the faith of him they should work most astonishing miracles, which he here particularizes; a circumstance, which not only contributed greatly, but was highly necessary, to the propagation of the gospel, while at the same time the performance of it is an irrefragable proof of the truth of Christianity. That the signs here specified were rendered illustrious in the days of the apostles, appears sufficiently from the book of the Acts, and the several epistles; and that they were not confined to their times, but continued in the two first ages of the church, there is the most sufficient and undoubted proof. How much longer these extraordinary gifts were exerted, has been in our times a matter of great controversy. Perhaps there is nothing on this subject which will better repay a careful reading, than Dr. Whitby's General Preface to the 2nd Volume of his Commentary, proving the truth and certainty of the Christian fa